3 [Vol. xiv. 



that, as announced at a previous meeting of this Club, 

 Mr. Witherby hopes to be able to pay a visit to the much 

 neglected island of Crete next spring, where I am sure we 

 shall all wish him similar success. 



Another successful expedition to a much less known part 

 of the Palsearctic Region has just been accomplished by an 

 Australian ornithologist, Mr. Robert Hall, of Melbourne, 

 C.M.Z.S. Intending to visit England this summer, Mr. 

 Hall conceived the original idea of first going north to 

 China and Siberia, and travelling thence to this country by 

 the new Siberian railway. Quitting the railway for a time 

 at Lake Baikal, Mr. Hall crossed over northwards into the 

 basin of the Lena, and descended that river nearly to its 

 mouth. The fine series of some 400 bird-skins obtained by 

 Mr. Hall during this excursion has been acquired by Mr. 

 Rothschild for the Tring museum, and when carefully 

 studied, as it is sure to be at Tring, will, no doubt, give 

 us much information on the little-known avifauna of North- 

 eastern Siberia. 



On the other side of the Eastern hemisphere, Mr. Ogilvie- 

 Grant has been engaged, as many of us know, in a summer- 

 excursion to the Azores. The specimens of birds obtained 

 on this occasion are likewise, I am informed, now at Trin°- 

 and will be worked out there by Mr. Hartert. 



Passing to the Ethiopian Region, we find great activity 

 in the collecting and observing of birds lately manifested in 

 nearly every quarter. The large collections lately made by 

 Herr Oscar Neumann and Preiherr v. Erlanger in Eastern 

 Africa have still to be thoroughly worked out, although 

 notes on some of the novelties have been published ; and 

 in this country there are good series of Abyssinian birds 

 at the British Museum and at Tring, awaiting close exa- 

 mination. In Western Africa, Lieut. Boyd Alexander and 

 Mr. G. L. Bates have both been exceedingly active. The 

 remarkable results of Lieut. Alexander's expedition to the 

 Island of Fernando Po have excited the admiration of all 

 of us. It seldom falls to the lot of a naturalist in these 

 days to hit upon a spot where so many novelties have lain 



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