38 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



and transport of the great collection of Indian birds and mammals 

 which had been presented to the British Museum by Mr. A. 0. Hume. 

 During his absence the writer was placed in charge of the Bird 

 Eoom, and since that date had been closely associated with Dr. 

 Sharpe up to the time of his death, and had co-operated with him in 

 forming the now unrivalled collection of Birds and Eggs at the 

 Natural History Museum. 



Between 1899 and 1909 he compiled a ' Hand-List of the Genera 

 and Species of Birds,' which was published by the Trustees in five 

 volumes, a most laborious task, in which he was largely helped by 

 his faithful and devoted attendant, Charles Chubb, who had so ably 

 assisted him in all his work during the last twenty-five years. 



The second volume of the ' History of the Collections ' contained 

 in the Natural History Departments of the British Museum appeared 

 in 1906, and of this Dr. Sharpe wrote the Section "Birds," pp. 79-515. 

 This very valuable contribution contains many interesting details 

 respecting those who have helped to form the great collection of Birds 

 in the Natural History Museum, and particulars concerning them which 

 otherwise would have been lost and forgotten, as many of the facts 

 were based on his personal knowledge of men long since dead and gone. 

 With the death of Dr. Sharpe a link is lost between the modern 

 school of ornithologists and the little band who originally founded the 

 British Ornithologists' Union. He knew them all, and his personal 

 reminiscences extending over more than forty years were always 

 interesting and often most entertaining. His extraordinary memory, 

 which enabled him to name collections of birds off-hand with toler- 

 able accuracy, and by merely glancing over them to tell approxi- 

 mately where they came from, was truly remarkable, especially 

 before his health began to fail. 



Dr. Sharpe was immensely popular, and justly so, among orni- 

 thologists all over the world, and was elected President of Section A 

 at the Ornithologists' Congress held at Budapest in 1891, and at 

 Paris in 1900 ; he was also elected President when the Congress met 

 in London in 1905. He was Honorary LL.D. of the University of 

 Aberdeen, a Fellow of the Linnean and Zoological Societies, a 

 Member of the British Ornithologists' Union, and a recipient of the 

 Gold Medal for Science bestowed in 1891 by H.I.M. the Emperor 

 of Austria. 



W. E. Ogilvie-Geant. 



