Vol. xxv.J 4 



importance, that, except on very few occasion s, we have 

 always had subjects of considerable interest brought before us. 

 Moreover, as will be seen by the List lately issued, we have 

 now upwards of 410 Members on our books, amongst whom 

 will be found the names of nearly all the working Ornitho- 

 logists of this country. Again, the ' Bulletin ' of the Club, 

 containing a faithful record of our proceedings, besides 

 other occasional papers, is well known throughout the 

 ornithological world, and universally recognized as of 

 material importance to our Science. The c Bulletin ' which 

 records this evening's meeting will commence the twenty- 

 fif'th volume. We should all be grateful to Dr. Bowdler 

 Sharpe for having initiated such a successful undertaking, 

 and are glad to see him amongst us, as usual. 



The most important book to workers on systematic 

 ornithology published this year is no doubt the fifth and 

 last volume of Dr. Bowdler Sharpe's ' Hand-list of the 

 Genera and Species of Birds,' which, as I learn on good 

 authority, has now been issued. As the first volume was 

 published as long ago as 1899, the author cannot be said 

 to have unduly hurried it. But the wonder is that, with all 

 the other work which he has accomplished during the past 

 ten years, Dr. Sharpe has succeeded in bringing this laborious 

 task to a close. Many of us, no doubt, do not quite agree 

 with all the details of the work — especially as regards com- 

 mencing at what I call the il wrong end." In no other 

 Class of Animals, so far as I know, has this awkward and, 

 in my opinion, unnecessary innovation been attempted, and 

 I am not aware that anything can be said in its favour. 

 There are other points in which a somewhat old-fashioned 

 person like myself is constrained to differ from the mode 

 adopted by Dr. Sharpe in the ' Hand-list/ At the same 

 time we must all agree in our appreciation of the enormous 

 value of the work he has accomplished, and congratulate 

 him most heartily on its termination. 



Another important piece of work which has continued 

 through the past year, and will very shortly be finished, is 

 Mr. Godman's ' Monograph of the Petrels/ One of the most 

 obscure and least understood groups of Birds has now been 



