HAMLYN'S MENAGERIE MAGAZINE. 
THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' 
UNION. 
EXPULSION OF ENEMY ALIENS. 
The following report and letter are from "The 
Field." 
The Annual General Meeting of the British 
Ornithologists' Union was held in the meeting 
room of the Zoological Society on March 13, but 
the official report of the proceedings, issued in 
"The Ibis" for April, has only just come to hand. 
Its incompleteness seems to be attributable to the 
fact that no shorthand reporter was present, for 
the curious reason, as we are informed, that it has 
never been the custom to engage one. 
The number of members present was fifty- 
four. Ofter the usual formal business had been 
transacted, including the reading of minutes, 
statement of accounts for the year 1917, annual 
report of the committee, announcement of deaths 
of members and of candidates for election or mem- 
bers, the meeting proceeded to the election of a 
new president in the place of Colonel Wardlow 
Ramsay, retiring at the expiration of the usual 
term of office. The committee had nominated Dr. 
W. Eagle Clarke, of the Royal Scottish Museum, 
Edinburgh, and after a technical objection had 
been raised on the ground that the nomination 
was invalid under Rule 11, which requires six 
weeks' notice to be given, the difficulty was met 
by the chairman moving to susyend standing or- 
ders. This was considered by many present to be 
ultra vires, and nineteen members abstained from 
voting. The motion, however, was carried by 
twenty-nine to six, and, the recommendation of 
the committee being put to the meeting, Dr. Eagle 
Clarke was declared to be duly elected. 
Mr. G. M. Matthews was elected a member 
of the committee in the place of Mr. D. Seth 
Smith, retiring by seniority; an dscrutineers hav- 
ing been appointed to superintend the ballot, six- 
teen candidates for membership were balloted for 
and elected. 
The next item on the agenda paper was one 
which aroused a considerable amount of discus- 
sion, inasmuch as it involved the question whether 
members of enemy nationality should be expelled 
from the union or not. The chairman announced 
that the committee recommended their removal 
only "for the duration of the war." This being 
by no means acceptable to the meeting, Colonel 
Feilden moved as an amendment to omit these 
words from the recommendation, and was sup- 
ported by Mr. Abel Chapman. The chairman 
ruled him out of order on the ground that the 
matter had been finally settled at the general meet- 
ing in 1916; but Colonel Feilden having demon- 
strated that this was not so the chairman with- 
drew his objection. Whereupon another amend- 
ment was proposed by Mr. R. W. Chase which 
injudiciously raised a different issue, by proposing 
to add the words; "provided that if re-elected at 
the expiration of the war they be not called upon 
to pay an entrance fee." After much argument 
this appears to have been accepted by way of 
compromise. 
A discussion then arose on a correspondence 
which had taken place between Dr. H. O. Forbes 
(a member of thirty-three years' standing) and 
certain members of the committee on the subject 
of the expulsion of enemy aliens which he advo- 
cated, and in which he charged the committee with 
having acted in a manner both unpatriotic and 
antagonistic to the welfare of the union. In stat- 
ing his views on the subject he unfortunately ex- 
pressed himself so intemperately that the commit- 
tee called upon him to withdraw his letter unre- 
servedly.. This he declined to do, and the matter 
thus came before the general meeting. After 
much discussion it was moved and seconded that 
the conduct of Dr. Forbes had been unworthy of 
a member of the union, and that he be called upon 
to offer an apology and withdraw his letters, or 
resign his membership. No amendment being 
proposed, the motion was put to the meeting 
and carried. 
One other matter came before the meeting, 
of which no mention is made in the official report. 
Mr. J. E. Hawtrey, a member of fifty years' 
standing, being unable to attend the meeting, was 
urged by several members of the union to put in 
writing his views on subjects which they con- 
sidered of great importance. This he did in a 
printed letter addressed to the editor of "The 
Ibis," a copy of which was forwarded to the 
secretary with a request that it might be read at 
the meeting. Inly a small portion of it was read. 
The following letter, written at the request 
of several members of the Union, was forwarded 
to the Secretary with a request that it might be 
read at the recent Annual General Meeting, a 
report of which appeared in the last issue of the 
"Field." As only a small portion of it was com- 
municated to the meeting, it has been thought 
dsirable to print it for the information of other 
naturalists, besides those for whose benefit it was 
primarily intended : — 
To the Editor of "The Ibis." 
Sir, — Having been a member of the British 
Ornithologists' Union for fifty years — elected in 
1868 — I have lived long enough to see many 
changes in men and manners, and, I regret to say, 
long enough to see a departure from the methods 
of studying Ornithology which I much deplore. 
