ObltKunj. 3G9 



y.ll. — Obituarii. 



Captain Shelley, Dr. A. B. Meyer, Mr. W . E. D. Scott, 

 and Dr. Carl Parrot. 



Captain George Erxest Shelley. 



Captain Shelley, who died at Bournernouth on tlie 29th 

 of November last after a long illness, was the youngest son 

 of the late Mr. John Shelley, of Avington, Hants, the poei^s 

 younger brother. He was born in 1840 and educated 

 privately in England, after which (1852 to 1855) he studied 

 in France at the Lycee de Versailles, In 1862 he attended 

 courses of Lectures on Applied Mechanics by Professor 

 Tyndall and on Geology by Professor Bamsay. In March 

 of that year he was elected a Fellow of the Geological 

 Society. 



Shelley joined the Grenadier Guards in 1863, but his 

 gifted and scientific mind, and an aptitude for research, 

 seemed to unfit him for the monotonous routine of a soldier's 

 life, and after a few years' service in the Guards, he retired 

 with the rank of Captain. A short time afterwards he was 

 attached to a Commission sent out by the Government to 

 South Africa, to initiate a geological survey. 



Captain Shelley would, in all probability, have made his 

 mark as a geologist, if circumstances had not diverted his 

 attention to Ornithology, which henceforward became the 

 chief and absorbing interest of his life. In 1872 he published 

 his ' Handbook to the Birds of Egypt,' which was followed, 

 in 1880, by his 'Monograph of the Nectariniid?e, or Family 

 of Sun-birds.' This was a handsome quarto volume, pro- 

 fusely illustrated by the artist Keulemans, This work was 

 the result of frequent expeditions to the African Continent 

 and many years' study of bird-life in Australia, Burma, and 

 the Portuguese Settlements in Angola. When Captain 

 Shelley first visited the Ethiopian region little was known 

 about the avifauna of this " metropolis of birds," where, - 

 as he tells us, " every bush resounds with their melody." 

 The materials dealt with in that sumptuous volume on the 



