PREFACE. 



The number of attendances at the Meetings of the British 

 Ornithologists' Club during the 20th Session, 1911-1912, 

 was 468 (this included 358 Members and 110 Visitors), 

 showing an average of 52 per Meeting, a marked increase 

 over any previous Session since the commencement of the 

 Club. 



We regret to record the death of Mr. E. W. Oates, the 

 well-known author of numerous excellent works on Indian 

 Ornithology, and of several volumes of the Catalogue of the 

 Eggs in the British Museum. 



A number of new species from New Guinea are described 

 in the pages of the present volume, and several from Formosa 

 and other countries, also nearly a score of new forms from 

 various parts of Africa. Among the former we may specially 

 mention the dwarf Cassowary {Casuarius claudii) discovered 

 by the B.O.U. Expedition in the foot-hills of Dutch New 

 Guinea, and among the latter the brilliantly coloured Puff- 

 backed Shrike (Laniarius mufumbiri) from the volcanoes of 

 Mufumbiro (see 'Ibis/ 1912, pi. vi.). 



During the last seven years a Sub-Committee of the Club 

 has been conducting an important inquiry into the move- 

 ments of our summer and autumn migrants. This year a 

 new departure has been made and the investigation has been 

 extended to Eastern China. Through the financial assistance 

 of the Club, Mr. J. D. La Touche was enabled to send his 

 Chinese collectors to the Island of Shaweishan, at the mouth 



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