6o 



NATURE 



[May 21, 1896 



the birds. The contributors on this occasion arc Dr. 

 Bovvdler Sharpc, Mr. OgiIvie-("irant, and the editor, whose 

 names are sufficient sponsors that the present volume is 

 in no way behind its predecessors, which every section of 

 the press has been unanimous in praising on account of 

 the scientific excellence of the text, and the beauty of 

 the illustrations. .\s a " Natural History," presenting a 

 po]5ular and comprehensive survey of the subject, the 

 " Royal " is unsurpassed. 



The now well-known two first volumes of the " Birds " 

 in the valuable " Fauna of British India," which the India 

 Office has been so well advised in publishing, were written 

 by Mr. Oatcs. The present \olume has been prepared by 

 the editor of the scries. Dr. W. T. Blanford, " who," as he 

 says, " has cndcax'ourcd to keep the [continuation of the] 

 work uniform in general plan, and to render the change 

 in authorsliip as little conspicuous as possible." Every- 

 where throughout the book, the same care and pains that 

 were manifest in Mr. Oates' two volumes are evident in 

 the third before us. Thanl.i to Hume — the value or 

 extent of whose unsurpassed ■ ift to the nation has yet 

 hardly begun to be appreciated as it must one day 

 be — never before has material for an avi-fauna of India, 

 approaching in its richness been anywhere brought 

 together as that now conserved in the British Museum. 

 The amount of comparison and original investigation 

 demanded, consequently, of the authors in compiling for 

 the first time since this collection has been available, the 

 bird-fatma of our Eastern empire, has been enormously ex- 

 tended, as well as facilitated. Although Mr. Oates, on 

 being prevented from completing' the work he commenced, 

 by his recall to official duty in India, handed over to Dr. 

 Blanford, on his departure, the notes he had prepared for 

 its continuation (which have been " of very great service," 

 as the author admits), )'et the more arduous part of the 

 work had still to be done. That this task, slow, full 

 of drudgery, and testing all the penetration and dis- 

 crimination of the ornithologist, has been most con- 

 scientiously fulfilled, is evident on every page, and with a 

 result in all respects on which Dr. Blanford is to be 

 congratulated. 



It had been intended to complete the "Birds" and 

 (with that section) the Vertebrata of India with the 

 present volume ; but as the work progressed, it "became 

 e\ident that the proposed third volume would be of 

 inconvenient size," and it was, therefore, decided to 

 divide it into the present and a concluding volume, 

 which, it is stated, is now in an advanced state of 

 preparation. The volume under notice includes the 

 Eurylaini, Piri, Zygodaciyli, Anisodactyli^ Maavc/iires, 

 Coccyges, Psitfaa', S/r/gt's, and Accipitres. The different 

 orders are distinguished chiefly by their anatomical 

 characters. The Utriges are rightly kept distinct from 

 the Accipitres ; but the Pandionidce are included within 

 its limits. We should rather have seen them constituted 

 a distinct order, Paiuiioncs. It is with satisfaction we 

 note that the publication of the final volume will not 

 be long delayed. 



NOTES. 

 The long list of birthilay honours contains the names of a few 

 men distinguished for their scientific attainments. Prof. Max 

 Miiller is to be sworn of the I'rivy Council. Mr. Clements 

 R. Markh.am, C.B., K.R.S., the Pre.sident of the Royal 

 Geographical Society, is promoted to be K.C.B., and Dr. 

 David Gill, F. R.S., Astronomer Royal at the Cape, is made a 

 C.B. Dr. J. G. Fitch, who until lately was Chief Inspector 

 in the Education Department, and Mr. Le Page Renouf, the 

 Egyptologist, have been knighted. 



The Chemical Society's Lothar Meyer Memorial Lecture 

 will be delivered by Prof. P. P. Bedson, at an extra meeting of 

 the .Society on Thursday, May 28. 

 NO. 1386, VOL. 54] 



The Cracow .\cademy of Sciences has appointed Prof. L. 

 Natanson as its representative at the forthcoming Kelvin cele- 

 bration at Glasgow. 



The Council of the Sanitary Institute have .accepted an in- 

 vitation from the city and county of Newcastle-upon-Tyne to 

 hold a Sanitary Congress and Health ICxhibition in that cilj in 

 the autumn of this year. 



Proi". An<;ei.o Heii.I'rin has been appointed to represent 

 the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia at the Mining 

 and Geologica .Millennial Congress, to be held at Budapest, 

 September 25 and 2O, in connection with the celebration of the 

 founding of the kingdom of Hungary. Messrs. Pcrsifor Frazer, 

 Angelo Hcilprin, Benjamin Smith Lyman, and Theodore D. 

 Rand have been appointed by the Academy as the Committee 

 on the Hayden Memorial Geological Award for 1S96. 



On the occasion of the Hungarian Millennium, the ICmperor 

 Francis Joseph has authorised the Budapest University to confer 

 the following honorary degrees : — On Prof. Henry Sidgwick, of 

 Camliridge, the honorary degree of Doctor of Political 

 Economy; on Prof. J. S. Billings, of Philadelphia, and on Sir 

 Joseph Lister the honorary degree of Doctor of Medicine ; on 

 Mr. Bryce, M.P. , Mr. Herbert Spencer, Lord Kelvin, and Prof. 

 Max Muller, the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy. 



The conversazione of the Society of Arts will be held at the 

 South Kensington Museum on Wednesday, June 17. 



Proi--. E. StiESS, the well-known geologist, and Liberal 

 politician, lias just retired from his party in the Austrian Parlia- 

 ment. 



The death is announced of Prof Germain See, the dis- 

 tinguished Freiichipathologist, and member of the Paris .\cademy 

 of Medicine. 



A roNVEKS.\/,iONE of the Society for the Protection of Birds 

 will be held at the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours, 

 Piccadilly, to-morrow evening. 



We learn, from the foiiriial dc Bo/aiiiqiie, that M. L. Diguet 

 has been commissioned Ijy the Minister of Public Instruction 

 for France, and by the Museum of Natural History, with a 

 botanical mission to Lower California, where he will probably 

 make a prolonged stay. 



Mr. Mark Judge, Honorary Secretary to the Sunday Society, 

 sends us the following statement of attendances on Sunday last 

 at the great national mu.seums in London : — South Kensington 

 Museum, 2659; Bethnal Green Museum, 799; Geological 

 Museum, 212 ; British Museum, 1790; Natural History Museum, 

 2398 ; National Gallery, 2106. The total is 9864, which 

 number of visitors may be taken to justify the continuance of 

 the Sunday opening of the museums. 



The Croonian Lectures of the Royal College of Physicians 

 will be delivered im June 2, 4, 9 and 11, by Dr. George Oliver, 

 who will take for his subject " The Study of the Blood and the 

 Circulation." 



O.v Tuesday next, May 26, Prof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S., 

 will begin a course of two lectures, at the Royal Institution, on 

 the " Building and Sculpture of Western Europe" (the Tyndall 

 Lectures). (Jn Thursday (May 28) Dr. Robert Munro will 

 deliver the first of two lectures on " Lake Dwellings," and on 

 Saturday (May 30) Dr. E. A. Wallis Budge, Keeper of the 

 Egyptian and Assyrian Antiquities, British Museum, will begin 

 a course of two lectures on the " Moral and Religious Literature 

 of .\ncient Egypt." The Friday evening discourse on June 5 

 will be on " Electrical and .Magnetic Research at Low Temper- 

 atures,'' the lecturer being Prof. J. A. Fleming, F.R.S. 



