Ill 



tLe l)e)'|)e: oJuai^is ai'e fortunate hi liaving had t];e vdiole of 

 tlie ■v\'C!)'k pc'ii'o'iijed ujion a uniform system by the inde- 

 fari^al;]e c '. li^'v of a sinii'le naturalist. 



The ' Catalogue of Birds/ as complete in t-wrnty-seven 

 volumes^ gives us an account of 11,614 species of this Class 

 of A'ertcbiTiti s. divided into 2:^00 irenera and 124 families. 

 It has been prciniied by eleven authors^ all Members of the 

 jb'itish Ornithologists' Union^ and vritli o]ie exception^. I 

 believe (who is not a resident in England), now or formerly 

 ^Members of this Club. I think it uill b)e nni^■ersally 

 allowed ihat n\ c have, in this case, a great and luost useful 

 undertalduig brought to a successful conclusion. 



Another good piece of or'nithological vrork. likewise the 

 pi'oduct of a 3Jcn)bi.r of this Chib, which has just made its 

 ;!p]>carauce, is JMr, Beddard's volume on the ' Structure and 

 Classitjcation of Birds.'' It seems to me to be a most useful 

 I^Ianual on this subject, profusely illustrated, ;ind full of 

 convenient references to furtlier information on various 

 points which it would have been impossible to compress into 

 a single volume. It will be found to be a mine of wealth to 

 those V iio choose to dig in it, and contains a good summary, 

 not only of the results arrived at by ^Ii'. Beddard himself, 

 b,;t also by Garrod and Forbes, his illustrious predecessors 

 in tlie office A^hich he holds. 



?^Ir. A. H. Evans, whose volume upon Birds frr the 'Cam- 

 bridge Natural History ' "we have been long expecting, 

 informs me that this work is finished, except tliC index, and 

 w)ll be shortly published. ^Ve shall all welcome its aj)pear- 

 ancc with the greate.>t pleasui'e. A second woilc that 

 jMr. Evans^. together with ]\Ir. Scott ^^"ilson, is engaged 

 upnn is the ' Aves Hawaiienses,' of which we have long been 

 waiting fi^r the final p:irt. This. I am assured, is now i)i a 

 forward state, and is likely to be issued without fuiti.cr 

 delay.. 



Fi-om information received from Mr. PiOthschild, I am 

 pleased to be able to say that his somewliat paralh-l illus- 

 trated work on the ' Avifauna of Lays.m.' of which the last 

 piart was issued in 1893, will also be shortly brought to a 



