17 [Vol. xxix. 



of birds in our National Museum the most nearly perfect 

 in existence, though the series at Berlin is^ I suspect, not 

 far behind it, and there is also a fine series in the Tring 

 Museum. 



A complete catalogue of the specimens in the ^'^ Alexander ^' 

 Collection, with the locality and date of each of them, would, 

 in my opinion, be the best memorial that could be raised 

 of our much-lamented friend, and we may be sure that, 

 when the subject is fully considered, there will be no 

 difficulty about its preparation. 



A valuable book to all zoologists is the fifth volume of 

 the new edition of Bartholomew's ' Physical Atlas,' which 

 is entitled " Zoogeography.'' The authors' names on the 

 titlepage of the volume are Dr. Bartholomew, Mr. Eagle 

 Clarke, and Mr. Grimshaw, It is not difficult for us here 

 to guess which of these three writers took the greatest share 

 in the compilation of the section relating to " Birds." We 

 need not do this ; but I am sure that you will agree with me 

 that this is a carefully prepared memoir on a very difficult 

 subject, and is well worthy of the study of all those who 

 are interested in the problem of the Distribution of 

 Animals. 



As regards the general Literature of Ornithology, I think 

 that the number of publications during the past year has 

 been about the usual average. ' The Ibis ' for 1911 contains 

 " Notices " of 105 books and papers of more or less import- 

 ance, while the corresponding numbers were 106 in 1910 

 and 107 in 1909. * The Ibis' for 1911 is a rather bulky 

 volume of 802 pages. Amongst the papers in it which are 

 especially interesting to the students of British Birds is 

 Mr. Bucknill's " Further Contribution to the Ornithology 

 of Cyprus." His notes show us how many of our familiar 

 birds, which desert us in winter, pass through that island on 

 their way to Africa. 



Another recent publication of special interest to the 

 student of the British Ornis is Dr. Koenig's ' Avifauna 

 Spitsbergensis.' Dr. Koenig has devoted three summers to 

 the exploration of Spitsbergen and the adjacent islands. 



