^\)l. xxix.] 16 



Tkuky, a. Tuevor-Battye, G. Tyrwhitt-Drake, H. F. 

 WiTHERBY (Sec. &^ Treas.), A. F. R. AYollaston. 



Members of the B. O. U. :— P. S. Godman, C. G. Talbot- 



PoXSONBY. 



Visitors : — T, Barclay, H. Tabor Brooks, Gerald 

 Browne, Col. Campbell, H. J. Evelegh, C. E. Fagan, | 

 C. (tibbs, Sir William Ingram, Bart., Geoffrey Meade- 

 Waldo, E. F. Stead, H. Stevens, T. Tait, K. Walter. 



Chairman's Address on the Opening of the 

 TwENTiLTH Session of the B. O. C. 



Brother Members of the B.C. C, — ' 



The usual Chairman's Address at the first jNIeeting of the 

 Session of this Club having been omitted in consequence 

 of tlie pressure of other business, I have been requested by 

 some of my friends to offer you a few remarks on ornitlio- 

 logical subjects at tlie present Meeting, which I have great 

 pleasure in doing. 



The most important event connected with Ornithology that 

 has occurred since the commencement of our last Session 

 has been the return of the B.O.U. Expedition from New 

 Guinea. I will not say much about this subject on the 

 present occasion, because the results have not yet been 

 worked out. Although our party did not succeed in 

 reaching the Snow Mountains of the interior, they traversed 

 a large tract of unexplored counlrj' — which, as Mr. Wollastou 

 has already explained to us, is probably the most difficult in 

 the world. They also acquired a large amount of knowledge 

 and experience, which will be of the greatest value when the 

 next expedition takes place. This, we have good reason to 

 believe, will not be long delayed, and the necessary arrange- 

 ments are already receiving the attention of the New Guinea 

 Committee of the B. 0. U. 



The donation to the British Museum of the '^Alexander" 

 Collection of African Birds is an event which should cer- 

 tainlv be mentioned among the chief ornithological incidents 

 of the past year. It probably renders the African series 



