but I tliiuk I may say that 'The Ibis/' vrhirh was founded 

 by the B.O.U. in 1859, six years later than the ' Journal 

 fiir -Ornithologie/ i;as, in some respects, had even a more 

 striking- career than its sister Journal. This of course is 

 mainly owing- to the unfailing support it hns received from 

 the I\Iembers of the B.O.U.,, no-rr up-wards of 300 in number, 

 who have' grudged, neither time nor money in promoting its 

 success. 'We liave now published Six Series of ' The Ibis/ 

 each extending over a period of six }-ears, and two ' Index ^ 

 volumes^, which greatly facilitate references to the work, 

 while of a Seventh Series the tliird volume is already 

 complete, bringing up the vrork to the close of the present 

 year. Glancing over the set in our libraries we no+ice at 

 once that the more recent volumes have evidently increased, 

 in bulk, and, we may also hope, have not diminished as 

 regards the value of their contents. The special feature 

 that distinguishes ' The Ibis ' is, I think I may say, its 

 cosmopolitanism. II. '-shmen, as we know^ and especially 

 English ornithologists, a. scattered over the whole world. 

 Their motto, like that of the ?.oyal Engineers, is ^ Ubique ' ; 

 and although there are always a certain number of 

 communications in '' The Ibis' relating to 'British' Birds, the 

 majority of the memoirs either come from correspondents 

 in foreign countries, or are devoted to the description of 

 collections transmitted to headquarters from travellers in 

 distant lands. For example, taking a look for a moment 

 at the recently completed volume for 1897, we find articles 

 ou the Birds of British Burmah, Chili, Marocco, the 

 Pyrenees, Siberia, Guiana, Argentina, China, tlie Red Sea, 

 the Philippine Islands, San Domingo, Central Madagascar^ 

 Kew Guinea, Zulu-land, Nyasa-land, Oudh, and Spitsbergen, 

 It will be seen that our claim to be cosmopolitans in science, 

 although we are at the same time all British patriots to the 

 backbone, have not been put forward without reason. I 

 will not now stop to describe what has been written in 

 ' The Ibis ' in other branches of ornithological research during 

 recent years, but I can assure you that the .Editors have done 

 their very best to keep the Journal up to the highest standard. 



