49f) Letters, Extracts, Notices, &,r. 



" The Bearded Tit {Panurus biarmicus) may be added to 

 the list of female birds which are known to occasionally as- 

 sume male plumage. In the summer of 1882 a Bearded Tit, 

 two years old, in Mr. J. G. Keulemans' aviary, hatched five 

 eggs and moulted, during which operation she suffered much 

 from cold and stiffness, and M'hen she recovered her plumage it 

 was partly that of the male [cf. ' The Field,' Sept. 14, 1872)." 



Anniversary Meeting of the British Ornithologists' Union, 

 1888. — The Annual General Meeting of the British Ornitho- 

 logists' Union was held at the rooms of the Zoological So- 

 ciety, 3 Hanover Square, on A¥ednesday the 16th May, at 

 6 P.M., Mr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the last Meeting having been read and 

 confirmed, the Committee presented their Report, in which, 

 after an explanation of the prosperous state of the finances, 

 it was announced that there had been two losses by death, 

 viz. Messrs. Heywood Jones and J, C. Hele, and two by 

 resignation, viz. Mr. Henry Buckley and Capt. A. W. M. Clark 

 Kennedy. The total number of Members was stated to be 

 204, viz. 174 Ordinary, 1 Extraordinary, 9 Honorary, and 20 

 Foreign Members. 



As another series of 'The Ibis' would be completed with 

 the present volume, the question of Editorship had been 

 taken into consideration by the Committee, who regretted to 

 say that Mr. Saunders was unable to continue as co-Editor ; 

 but that Mr. Sclater has expressed his readiness to under- 

 take the editorship alone for the next series. 



After some discussion. Professor Newton proposed, " That 

 the Report of the Committee be received, and that on the 

 completion of the current Series — the Fifth — of ' The Ibis,' 

 another Series — the Sixth — be commenced, with Mr. Sclater 

 as Editor." Mr. Salvin seconded this proposal, which, on 

 being put to the Meeting, was carried unanimously. 



The accounts having been passed, Professor Newton then 

 proposed that, '' as regards extra copies, contributors to ' The 

 Ibis ' should be placed, mutatis mutandis, on the same footing 

 as authors of papers in the ' Proceedings ' of the Zoological 

 Society." This was seconded and carried. The following new 



