114 President's Addresâ. 



In addition to this grand addition to the Museum many 

 other collections of value were presented. Dr. Blanford gave 

 33 birds from the Goda very Valley, procured during- his 

 sojourn therein. Colonel Hayes Lloyd presented a set of the 

 birds obtained by him in Kathiawar ; Captain Shelley, some 

 valuable specimens (117) from Egypt, and from Avington, in 

 Hampshire, where we have spent many a pleasant hour 

 together engaged in collecting for the British Museum. 



The Accipitres of the "Wallace Collection from the Amazons 

 were also acquired ; the rest of his Amazonian collection was 

 purchased by Dr. F. D. Godman, and has since been presented 

 by him to the Museum. 



I was now busy with the preparation of the volume of 

 s Accipitres ' for the ' Catalogue of Birds,' and took a month's 

 trip to the Continent for the purpose of studying other collec- 

 tions, visiting the Museums at Ley den, Brussels and Berlin, 

 and making exchanges wherever I could, especially in the 

 effort to obtain series of the birds of continental countries, in 

 which the Museum showed a lamentable deficiency. The 

 Brussels Museum, thanks to Dr. Dubois, presented 62 birds 

 from Belgium to the British Museum. 



In 1873, Commander Sperling gave 39 birds which he had 

 collected on the Congo ; Dr. Günther also purchased the 

 Monte iro collection of Angolan Birds, 179 in number, with 

 many types. 



In the succeeding year, 1874, a very valuable addition to 

 the Museum took place in the shape of the second set of the 

 birds collected by Dr. W. T. Blanford during the expedition 

 of 1871-1872 to Eastern Persia and Baluchistan. The 

 Museum received 321 specimens, presented by the Govern- 

 ment of India, under whose auspices the expedition took 

 place. 



According to the wholesome rule which obtains in the 

 British Museum, no officer on the staff is permitted to retain 

 a private collection of specimens, at least in that group of 

 animals with which he is officially connected. It became 

 necessary, therefore, to part with my beloved collection of 

 African Birds to the British Museum, and the first instalment 

 of 603 specimens was handed over in 1874. 



