O/jituanj. 371 



tlie outset, and Dr. Gihitlier gave Slielley every assistance 

 at the British jNIuscum, besides the stimulus he needed. 

 Captain Shelley "as an excellent shot and was never happier 

 than when in pursuit of specimens of rare hirds, which he 

 collected for the information of ornithologists in all parts of 

 the world. 



Ill 1896 Shelley published the first volume of his ^ Birds 

 of Africa/ a work intended to consist of a series of handy 

 volumes dealing with the Ethiopian Avifauna, each volume 

 being in itself complete. Four volumes followed at intervals, 

 but the fir^t part of the fifth volume, which appeared iu 

 1906, was destined to be the last from Shelley's own pen, 

 for a sudden illness, a stroke of paralysis, brotiglit his labours 

 to an end. 



When the first volume of 'The Birds of Africa' was 

 published. Captain Shelley had sketched out the classification 

 which he adopted down to the " Keys of the Species," which 

 he had intended to bring out as the second volume of the 

 Series. But as the number of known Ethiopian forms 

 increased very rapidly he realized how imperfect these 

 " Keys" would be by the time he came to write the histories 

 of the species. He, therefore, decided to work out each 

 family in a monographic form. The classification way 

 compiled partly from Seebohm's ' Classification of Birds,' 

 and partly from that proposed by Sharpe at the Ornithological 

 Congress held at Buda-Pest in 1896, 



It is understood that arrangements have been made with 

 Mr. W. L. Sclater, formerly Director of the South African 

 Museum, Cape Town, and author of ' The Fauna of South 

 Africa/ to complete Captain Shelley's w^ork. 



Captain Shelley was for many years an active member of 

 the British Ornithologists' Union, and from 1870 to 1894. 

 made numerous contributions, chiefly on African birds, to 

 the pages of * The Ibis/ as will be seen by our List of liis 

 principal publications. He possessed great natural abilities, 

 with something of that genius which has made the family- 

 name famous. Gifted as he was by nature, he might have 

 turned his mind to anything, and would have made his mark 



