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PREFACE. 



It was not without some misgivings, both for public 

 and private reasons, as I stated in 1889, that I con- 

 sented, at the earnest request of some of my most 

 valued friends, to undertake tlie sole Editorship of the 

 Sixth Series of ' The Ibis.' I am now, it need hardly 

 be said, much pleased to have brought the final 

 volume of the series to a conclusion, which I may be 

 pardoned in designating as not unsuccessful. The 

 thirty-sixth volume of our Journal is not quite so 

 bulky as the thirty-tifth, but contains the same 

 number of plates, and many articles, I think, of 

 equal interest. 



In undertaking a share in the Editorship of the 

 Seventh Series, as I have now, perhaps somewhat 

 rashly, promised to do, it is a great satisfaction to 

 me that I shall have the assistance of my former 

 colleague, Mr. Howard Saunders. Without his 

 valuable aid I could not have ventured to incur 

 such a serious responsibility. 



As regards communications to this Journal in 

 many branches of our Science, I have received most 



