Avet> 1 
AVE S. 
BY 
R. Bowdler Sharpe, LL.D. 
Two main facts strike the Recorder, when considering the work done in the 
cause of Ornithology during the year 1891. One of these is the practical 
outcome of the gathering of Ornithologists of all countries at the Second 
International Congress at Budapest, which resulted in the publication of 
some really valuable Memoirs ; and, secondly, the increased attention 
which has been given to fossil forms. Mr. Lydekker’s ‘ Catalogue of 
the Fossil Birds in the British Museum’ marks an epoch in Avian 
Palaeontology, and some remarkable discoveries have also been made by 
Argentine naturalists. Although considerable divergence of opinion 
exists with regard to the determination of some of the species, there can 
be no doubt that in the deposits of the Argentine Republic and Patagonia 
lie hidden many remarkable forms, the correct description of which can- 
not but have a powerful influence on the history of the class ‘ Aves,’ as 
in no other class of animals has the * imperfection of the Geological 
Record ’ been more keenly felt. 
I.— THE GENERAL SUBJECT,* 
With Titles op Separate Works and of the more Important 
, Papers published in Proceedings of Societies, &c. 
Fourth Report of the Committee, consisting of Professor Flower 
(Chairman), Mr. D. Morris (Secretary), Mr. Carrutiiers, Dr. 
Sclater. Mr. Tiiiselton-Dyer, Dr. Sharp, Mr. F. Du Cane 
Godman, Professor Newton, Dr. Gunther, and Colonel 
Feilden, appointed for the purpose of reporting on the present 
state of our knowledge of the Zoology and Botany of the West 
* An asterisk prefixed to a quotation indicates that the Recorder has not seen 
the journal or work referred to. 
