Vol. xxxix. | 12 
the opening meeting of the Session an address on events of 
Ornithological interest during the past year. 
““ As I was not elected to be your Chairman until the first 
meeting of the present Session, it seemed mere fitting that 
anything I had to tell you should be postponed until this 
evening, and I will now therefore proceed to give you a 
short account of the events of importance in the Ornitho- 
logical world which have occurred since October 1917. 
“In the fourth year of the world-war it is not to be 
expected that there would be much totell you of exploration 
and discovery ; so many of the world’s ornithologists are 
directly or indirectly engaged’ in war work that few have 
had time to devote to their favourite pursuits. We have, 
however, several officers who have been able to spare some 
time for observation and collecting on the various fronts. 
In Macedonia, and afterwards in Palestine, Major Sladen 
has made some valuable collections for the Natural History 
Museum, and has already published in the ‘Ibis’ some 
observations on the birds observed. by him in the former 
front. His Palestine notes will appear later. Another of our 
members who has been very busy on several fronts is Colonel 
Meinertzhagen. He has made considerable collections re- 
cently at Quetta, in Hast Africa, and in Palestine, and has 
devoted special attention to Huropean migrants in those 
countries. We hope he will later on favour the pages of 
the ‘Ibis’ with a paper on these matters. 
“On the French front Major Congreve has been making 
some interesting observations and has met with some rare 
birds, of which he has given an account in the July 
‘ This.’ 
«Tt seems hardly worth while to mention other writers 
whose results have appeared in the ‘Ibis,’ but I should like, 
to draw your attention to Mr. Bates’s paper in the October 
number on the reversed under wing-coverts of birds. This 
is a matter which is almost entirely neglected by systematists 
and anatomists alike, and I think it is a most remarkable 
fact that a man like Mr. Bates, who lives buried in the 
depths of the West African forest in Cameroon, far away not 
