47 
Phil Hoiiom has played a pioneering role in both the Ornithological 
Society of Turkey (OST) and OSME. r^rom its inception in 1967 he served as 
the chairman of OST's Records and Editorial Committee and later bacame 
chairman of the Society's foreign section, As a Vice-President of OSME 
for the last ten years he has attended more council meetings and AGM's 
than any other member of the Society devoting at least 120 hours of 
committee time to its cause. Furthermore, he has provided a crisp clarity 
of thought, plenty of good humour and a wealth of knowledge and experience 
on the region to Council meetings, all of which have added significantly 
to OSME's successful progress. Not being content merely to serve the 
Society through an active committee role, Phil joined the 1985 OSME Yemen 
Expedition. This must have almost completed his first-hand experience of 
every Middle Eastern country and provided the expedition with one of its 
hardest working (be it collecting data or washing up), enterprising and 
enthusiastic members. 
While OST and OSME have benefitted greatly from Phil Hollom's many 
contributions to their administration, the birds for which these societies 
were formed have gained even more. I need not remind OSME members of 
Phil's role in furthering our knowledge and understanding of Middle 
Eastern birds. His senior authorship of Birds of the Middle East and 
North Africa , published last year - a project he conceived in the 1940s 
and has worked studiously towards ever since - is but one in a long, and 
as yet unfinished I am sure, series of accomplishments that stand as a 
testimony to his talents as an ornithologist and communicator. 
Phil Hollom will obviously be deeply missed by OSME council and we are 
eternally grateful for his advice, friendship and enthusiastic support. 
However, those fortunate enough to have the pleasure of Phil's company, be 
it at an OSME meeting, on our next expedition or elsewhere, can be sure to 
benefit from this truly delightful and remarkable man. 
Dr Hans Kumerloeve 
Since his first expedition to central Anatolia and the mountain forests of 
Ilgaz Daglari in 1933, Hans Kumerloeve has been painstakingly researching 
the wildlife of Turkey. Between 1953 and 1969 he visited, sometimes with 
his wife Gertraude, almost all of Turkey to study and collect its birds 
and mammals; many of the fruits of his labour are to be found in the 
Zoological Research Institute and Museum A. Koenig in Bonn. The 
combination of his own field investigations and meticulous documentation 
of collections made by zoologists in the region and their published and 
unpublished works, have led to Dr Kumerloeve' s unparalleled knowledge of 
the distribution and ecology of Turkey's birds, a knowledge passed onto 
the scientific world through his accumulated publication list of over 90 
papers (in German, French and English). 
