JVo/es a)ul Nexvs. 



'^7^'^ 



To ortiithologists he is best known as C;ipt. Blakistoii's collaborator in 

 the various annotated lists of Japanese birds published in 'The Ibis' and the 

 'Transactions' of the Asiatic Society of Japan between the jears 187S and 

 18S2, Mr. Prjer chiefly contributing the notes and the material relating to 

 the birds of the Middle Island, while Capt. Blakiston furnished the tiata 

 from the North Island. These publications mark a great ailvanee in Japa- 

 nese ornithology, and justly serve as the basis for all future investigations- 



In the prosecution of his ornithological and other researches, Mr. Pryer 

 visited the Bonin and Liu Kiu Islands, bringing home from tiie latter sev- 

 eral new and highly interesting species which have been described by 

 Mr. Seebohm. During a visit to Northeast Borneo he explored the famous 

 caves of Gomanton, where he procured specimens of the edible birds'-nests 

 and of the Swiftlets themselves (^Collocalia fucifliaga'), and in a most in- 

 teresting paper, published in the P. Z. S., 1SS4, pp. 53^-538, * related his 

 experiences there, and explained the mode of construction and composition 

 of these nests (see also below). 



At one time he gave up business for an a|>])ointnient under the [apanese 

 government, and superintended the arrangementof the zoological collection 

 in the museum of the Education Department. While in that service he 

 travelled about in the southern part of the country attended by native as- 

 sistants collecting for that institution, lie soon leturned to mercantile 

 business again, and to private collecting and study; but he was always 

 ready to aft'ord assistance and advice to his former employers, and the suc- 

 cess which attended the National Museum, as well as the one he had been 

 instrumental in setting on foot in the zoological way, is no doubt much 

 due to his aid. 



A friend, to whom we owe much of the information embodied in the 

 above sketch of Mr. Pryer's career, describes him as being of a wiry 

 nature, capable of withstanding fatigue and excessive heat, though not 

 robust, and as to his other qualities our correspondent quotes the follow- 

 ing from the 'Japan Daily Mail" oi" February 20: — "Mr. Pryer had earned 

 no small distinction as a natiu-alist. Earnest and unassuming, he culti- 

 vated knowledge for its own sake, and in the comparative retirement which 

 he courted for the better pursuit of his work, he never lost the geniality 

 and gentle kindness so often found in loving students of nature." 



In recognition of his meritorious work as a zoologist in Japan. Mr. 

 Pryer was elected a member of the Entomological Society of London in 

 1867, a corresponding member of the Zoological Society, London, in 187S, 

 and of the American Ornithologists' Union in 1883. 



Mr. Pryer's name will always be honorably associated with the history 

 of Japanese ornithology, anil his death is a great loss to those who weie 

 specially engaged in that liranch and who had the good foitune to profit 

 by his correspondence. — L. S. 



ANoriiEK corresponding UKiiiber of the A. (). U. has recently passed 

 away, viz. Dr. Modest N. Bogdanow, who on March 4-16, died in St. 



* A short abstract is to be found in the ' Standard Natural History," IV, p. 438. 



