Vol. xxiii.] 2 



The Chairman announced that at a meeting of the Com- 

 mittee of the Club, held that evening, the following officers 

 had been elected for the ensuing Session of 1908-1909 : — 



P. L. ScLATER, F.R.S., Chairman. 



W. R. Ogilvie -Grant, Editor. 



H. F. Withe RBY, Secretary and Treasurer. 



A. H. Evans, Joint-Editor of the ' Ibis/ 



J). Seth-Smith. 



E. G. B. Meade-Waldo, Fece-C/iflzVman. \ Members of the 



The Hon. Walter Rothschild, Ph.D., [ Committee. 



M.P. (in place of Dr. R. Bowdler 



Sharpe, retiring by seniority). 



. Chairman's Address on Opening the Seventeenth 

 Session oe the B. O. C. 



Brother Members of the B. O. C, — 



On opening the Seventeenth Session of the British 

 Ornithologists' Club I propose to offer you, as on former 

 occasions, a few remarks on some of the events connected 

 with the science of Ornithology that have taken place during 

 the past year. 



In the first place, I may venture to remind you, although 

 most of you are, no doubt, well acquainted with the fact, 

 that the fourth and concluding number of the fiftieth volume 

 of ' The Ibis ' has lately been issued. In celebration of this 

 important event it has been determined to hold a second 

 General Meeting of the British Ornithologists' Union on the 

 9th of December next, to be called the " Jubilee Meeting." 

 It is not necessary on the present occasion to tell you of 

 the proposed proceedings at this meeting. It is sufficient to 

 say that the subject has been carefully considered by the 

 Committee, and that the necessary information upon it will 

 shortly be forwarded to every Member of the Union. I 

 may, however, remind those present that for obvious reasons 

 the meeting will be held in London, and not at Cambridge, 



