Vol. xv.] 88 



The Chairman stated that, before commencing the ordinary 

 business of the Meeting, he had the sorrowful task of 

 announcing the recent loss of three members of the B. O. C, 

 all of them well known in ornithological science — Dr. W. T. 

 Blanford, F.R.S., Lt.-Col. L. H. Irby, and Mr. E. Cavendish 

 Taylor. Dr. Blanford was not a frequent attendant at these 

 meetings, but his name was familiar to those who were 

 interested in the Birds of British India, Persia, and Abyssinia, 

 in all of which countries he had done excellent work. 

 Col. Irby's principal scene of action had been Southern 

 Spain and Morocco, and his ' Ornithology of the Straits of 

 Gibraltar ' (of which a second edition was published in 1895) 

 would long remain the chief authority on the very interesting 

 Avifauna of those countries. Mr. E. Cavendish Taylor was 

 an accomplished student of Palsearctic Birds, especially of the 

 winter-visitants to Egypt and Italy, but had also visited the 

 West Indies and Tropical America, and, during his many 

 journeys, had never failed to pay attention to the birds that 

 he met with. Mr. Taylor had bequeathed his small but 

 valuable collection of Birds and Eggs, which were principally 

 collected by himself, to the British Museum. 



Major F. W. Proctor announced the occurrence of the 

 Waxwing (Ampelis garrulus) in Berkshire, a pair of birds 

 having been seen at Maidenhead Thicket on the 11th of 

 April. 



Major Proctor also made remarks on the abundance of 

 the Lesser Redpoll (Linota rvfescens) in Berkshire in 1905, 

 and exhibited some nests and eggs of this species. 



Mr. Meade-Waldo remarked that the species was com- 

 paratively common this year in the south of England, 

 breeding sporadically in some numbers. He had seen a 

 brood of young birds on the 24th June in Kent and about 

 six weeks earlier had known of several nests. 



Mr. W. B. Tegetmeier exhibited the remains of a 



