PREFACE. 



The preparation of the Index to the e Bulletin ' is the duty 

 of the (I had nearly written " unfortunate ") Editor, because 

 it forms a kind of annual " holiday task " for him. The index 

 to our tenth volume of the ' Bulletin' has certainly proved 

 heavier than any of its predecessors, by reason of the greater 

 number of quotations which the Editor has had to record, but 

 it has, at the same time, been very satisfactory to him to note 

 the increase in the number of contributions to our journal. 



The exhibition of specimens illustrating the colour-varia- 

 tions of birds >was in every respect a very remarkable one, 

 mainly due to I the extraordinary series which our esteemed 

 member, the jAon. Walter Rothschild, M.P., transported from 

 his Museum; at Tring ; while many other members of the Club 

 contributed] from their private collections. The result was 

 one of the most interesting exhibitions ever presented to the 

 notice of o„ Scientific Society. 



The memory of the pleasant evenings which the members 

 of theji Club have spent together, aud of the solid work which 

 *nas been a feature of our Eighth Session, is saddened by the 

 decease of several of our friends. The loss of such energetic 

 workers as St. George Mivart, John Cordeaux, and T. J. Monk 

 is not only felt by the Club as a Scientific Institution, but 

 it has taken away from some of the older members some 

 very sincere friends and companions. The fortune of 

 war also has deprived us of two excellent ornithologists, 

 Dr. A. C. Stark and Colonel H. P. Northcott. The former 

 was struck down by a Boer shell in Ladysmith, as he was 

 quietly smoking a cigarette at 12 o'clock at night, and his 



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