Vol. xi.] 18 



The Chairman then read his Annual Address : — 



Brother Members of the B. O. C, — 



On commencing the Ninth Session of our Club I ven- 

 ture to remind you that we have now issued ten volumes of 

 our ' Bulletin/ and have recorded in them a goodly series 

 of ornithological observations and of new discoveries in 

 Bird-life. 



But I may also remind you that our Club is, as it were, 

 a Committee of the British Ornithologists' Union, embracing, 

 as it does, nearly all the most prominent and most active 

 Members of the larger Society. The British Ornitholo- 

 gists' Union has just brought to a close the seventh series 

 of its Journal ' The Ibis/ making a total of 42 volumes 

 devoted to the advancement of our favourite branch of 

 Natural Science. This is therefore, I think, a good oppor- 

 tunity for considering shortly some of the principal results 

 which have been accomplished by the B. O. U. during the 

 42 years that ' The Ibis ' has nourished. 



One of the principal objects of those who originally 

 conceived the idea of a British Ornithologists' Union and 

 founded ' The Ibis ' was that we should use it as a means 

 of publication for the results of our own travels and expedi- 

 tions into various parts of the world in search of birds and 

 of the incidents of bird-life. Thus the very first volume of 

 our first series contained articles by Salvin on his experi- 

 ences in Guatemala, by Canon Tristram on the birds of 

 Palestine and also of Algeria, by Prof. Newton on the birds 

 of St. Croix, West Indies, and by Evans and Sturge on the 

 birds of Spitsbergen. The original idea of our Journal was 

 quickly expanded; we received accounts of the collections 

 made by our friends and correspondents in various parts of the 

 world, and these were worked out mainly by the experts at 

 home. But all through the long series of ' The Ibis ' the 

 geographical interest remains a prominent feature. One 

 may consult any volume of 'The Ibis' and the student will 

 find that most of the principal articles are devoted to the 

 ornithology of some special country or district, and that 



