306 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
inroads of man. Its extinction is, possibly, partly due to scarcity 
of food, and partly to a process of natural decay which is no 
doubt in a measure induced by the effects of the first. 
So recluse and retiring in its habits, it is probable that few 
if any further additions will be made to the three specimens of 
this bird already secured, unless special efforts be made in this 
direction; and, though this may entail a considerable 
expenditure of time and energy, the object is one deserving the 
support of every true naturalist. 

NOTES AND QUERIES. 

The late Surgeon Francis Day, C.LE., F.L.S., F.Z.S. — On the 
10th July, at Cheltenham, after a long and painful illness, there passed 
away a naturalist who has long been known as a leading authority in this 
country on all that relates to fish and fish-culture. To our readers doubtless 
Dr. Day’s name will be chiefly familiar in connection with the latest work 
on British Fishes which he published in parts between 1880 and 1884, and 
his volume on. British Salmonide, which appeared only two years ago 
(1887), to say nothing of the many papers which he contributed to the 
‘ Proceedings of the Zoological Society,’ ‘ Journal of the Linnean Society, 
‘The Zoologist,’ ‘The Field,’ and ‘Land and Water,’ as well as to the 
‘Transactions of the Cotswold Naturalists’ Field Club and Cheltenham 
Natural Science Society,’ of which he was President at the time of his 
decease. But it was as an authority on the Fishes of India, Burma, and 
Malabar that he first made his mark, and acquired a reputation which on 
his retirement from the Madras Army as Deputy Surgeon-General, led to 
his appointment as Inspector-General of Fisheries for India, a post which 
he held until 1877, and which gave rise to the publication of many valuable 
Reports. His standard work on the Fishes of Malabar appeared in quarto 
in 1865, although two years previously he had published his first book, 
which he called ‘The Land of the Permauls; or Cochin, its past and its 
present.’ It was not until 1878 that he was able to complete his 
great work on the Fishes of India, the publication of which had been 
commenced in 1875. This important work did for ichthyologists what 
Jerdou’s ‘ Birds of India,’ to some extent, did for ornithologists. It gave 
them a comprehensive view of the Fish Fauna of India, Burma and Ceylon, 
and supplied a vast amount of information on many species which were 
either previously undescribed or very imperfectly known. As a contribution 
to zoological science, however, it is much superior to Jerdon’s work. The 
species are more skilfully diagnosed, the synonymy properly worked out, 
