Since we commenced our last Session great progress has 

 been made with the British Museum Catalogue of Birds, and 

 we may well expect that the year 1896 will witness its final 

 completion. Count Salvadori's volume on the Anseres, 

 Tinarai, and other, lower Orders is complete and ready for 

 publication. The joint-volume of Mr. Saunders (on the 

 Laridre) and Mr. Salvin (on the Tubinares) is nearly ready, 

 I am informed ; and that of Dr. Bowdler Sharpe on the 

 Waders is said to be in a very forward state. There remains, 

 therefore, only Dr. Sharpens Catalogue of the Divers, Pelicans, 

 Cormorants, and Herons, on which, I believe our Editor is 

 busily employed at the present time. I am much pleased 

 also to learn that steps have been taken towards the compi- 

 lation of an additional volume (as suggested in my last 

 Address), in which the names of all species described since 

 the commencement of the Catalogue in 1874, and not already 

 recorded in the different volumes, will be eni'olled. When 

 this additional volume and the General Index, of the whole 

 series shall have been issued, the result will be a work 

 of surpassing value to all workers on the Class of Birds. 



As regards other works on systematic Ornithology in 

 progress, I will not say much more on the present occasion. I 

 may, however, mention that Captain Shelley is now engaged in 

 printing a complete Catalogue of African Birds, which he has 

 had for some years in preparation. Captain Shelley's intimate 

 acquaintance with this subject will, no doubt, render it a 

 most useful and valuable work. As soon as it is finished, we 

 must call upon him to prepare a new edition of the '' Birds of 

 Egypt. ^ When visiting that country last winter, I received 

 many complaints as to this useful volume being out of print. 

 I may also express a hope, which I am sure will be joined in 

 by all ornithologists, that Capt. Bendire's ' Life-Histories of 

 North-American Birds,' of which the first part was published 

 in 1892, will be continued and completed. Such a work is 

 just what we require for a better understanding of the Nearctic 

 Ornis. 



As regards future explorations, on which I sometimes 

 obtrude my advice, it is still abundantly manifest that every 



