

PREFACE. 



The conclusion of the sixth and last volume of the 

 Eighth Series of ' The Ibis ' gives the Editors an 

 appropriate opportunity of saying a few words upon 

 what may be considered the very successful career of 

 the British Ornithologists' Union since its institution. 

 The Union, founded in 1858, consisted at that elate 

 of twenty Members. At the present time, as will be 

 seen by the List in this volume, besides four hundred 

 and seventeen Ordinary Members it has the support of 

 two Extra-Ordinary, nine Honorary, five Colonial, and 

 twenty Foreign Members, making in all a total of 

 453 Members, all more or less interested in the ad- 

 vancement of Ornithological Science. Our Members, 

 it will also be remarked, are spread over all the 

 habitable parts of the globe, so that there is hardly 

 any country from which we may not expect to obtain 

 information on our special subject when required. 

 This fortunate state of things has been of very great 

 assistance to all the Editors of ' The Ibis ' in their 

 work. 



As regards the size of ' The Ibis,' the pages in the 

 first volume, issued in 1859, were 490, and the 

 illustrative plates were 15. These numbers have 

 been gradually increased until in the forty-eighth 

 volume now completed the pages are 769 and the 

 plates 22. It does not, of course, follow that an 

 increase in the size of a journal invariably carries 



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