OSME News 
Hew Prendergast (East Sussex, UK) has taken on editorship of OSME Bulletin. 
To ease the production of future issues of OSME Bulletin, contributors of articles 
should make every effort to conform to the house style as in this issue, especially 
with regard to references. Failure to do so will, I am afraid, lead to the return of 
manuscripts and to possible delay in publication. Over to you! 
OSME Vice-President honoured 
In the British New Year's Honours List Major Michael Gallagher, an OSME Vicer 
President since 1987, one of the leading ornithologists in Oman and joint author 
of The Birds of Oman, was awarded an MBE for his services to Natural History 
in the Middle East. This is a fitting tribute for all of the hard work Major Gallagher 
has put in over the years to the study and conservation of the birds of the region 
and Council is sure that members will join us in expressing our congratulations 
to him. 
OSME Summer Meeting 
This year's meeting will again be at the Natural History Museum, Cromwell 
Road, London on Saturday 9 July - see enclosed programme for full details. The 
afternoon's talks will cover Birds in North Africa, Zoogeography of North Africa, 
the Middle East Important Bird Areas project and the Caucasian Blackcock in 
Turkey. Additionally there will be a range of birding sales stands and displays. 
The afternoon will also include the Sixteenth Annual General Meeting. 
OSME Members' Survey 
At the time of writing (17 February) nearly 200 forms have been returned - an 
extremely encouraging and informative response. Council felt that members 
might appreciate clarification of two questions in the survey. 
1 Availability of the membership list: 
Under the Data Protection Act, OSME is not at liberty to distribute names and 
addresses of the Society's members without prior consent and Council would 
like to assure members that membership details will be made available only to 
enable members to contact others active in the region. Under no circumstances 
will the list be made available for commercial purposes. 
2 Expanding the Region: 
Several members have expressed concern that, if OSME's region were expanded 
to cover North Africa, there is potential for conflict with the recently formed 
African Bird Club (ABC). From the outset OSME has had close discussions with 
ABC over this issue and, whilst ABC will officially be covering the whole of the 
continent, they are pleased at OSME's desire to involve those countries north of 
the Sahara whose avifauna is closely associated with that of the Middle East. 
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