Vol. xxix.] 46 



Mr. Oates was an officer iu the Public Works Department 

 in Burmah from 1867 to 1899, and rose to the highest 

 positions in that branch of the service. He was an ardent 

 naturalist, and all his spare time was devoted to the study 

 of his favourite science. 



As an Ornithologist Mr. Oates had few equals, and will 

 long be remembered for the excellence of his writings. 

 When in England in 188.2-3 he spent much of his time at 

 the British Museum, Bloomsbury, iu preparing his first 

 well-known work 'A Handbook to the Birds of British 

 Burmah.' Subsequently, he wrote the first two volumes on 

 Birds in the ' Fauna of British India,' edited by the late 

 W. T. Blanford — which volumes may justly be regarded as 

 models of what such works ought to be. His other well- 

 known works included a second edition of ^ Hume's Nests 

 and Eggs of Indian Birds ' and a ' Manual of the Game 

 Birds of India.' He also wrote the first two volumes of the 

 ' Catalogue of the Collections of Birds' Eggs in the British 

 Museum,' and was joint author with Capt. Savile G. E-eid 

 of the third and fourth volumes of the same work. 



Mr. Oates was an accurate observer in the field, and his 

 fine collection of Burmese birds and their eggs now forms 

 part of the National Collection. 



In the last years of his life he was deeply interested in 

 that most difficult group of Kalij- and Silver-Pheasants 

 which are included in the genus Gennceus, and he formed a 

 fine collection of these birds which was transferred to the 

 Natural History Museum shortly before his death. His 

 views on this difficult group of birds were much at variance 

 with those of other ornithologists, and probably many of 

 the individuals which he regarded as representing dis- 

 tinct species or subspecies should really be considered as 

 hybrids, which undoubtedly occur among wild birds of this 

 group. His collection, however, contained many types, 

 and the Trustees of the British Museum were fortunate iu 

 acquiring it. 



Mr. Oates was elected a Member of the British Ornitho- 

 logists' Union in 1884 and joined the B. O. C. in 1893, soon 



