ORNITHOLOGY OF SECTION D, 1850. 
was present during the last two days; Mr. James Wilson took part 
in the remarks made upon some of the papers; Mr. Wolley, a 
gentleman attending the Medical Classes in the University, read a 
paper on the birds of the Faroe Islands, and we trust we shall be 
able to continue his name among the list of those who study in the 
field as well as in the closet; and Mr. Arthur Strickland gave a 
communication on the “ changes of plumage in British birds,” but 
which, unfortunately coming on near the close of the section, was 
not concluded. By the kindness of these gentlemen, we have 
received their papers, and the next two parts of the “ Contri- 
butions” will be deyoted to them, as the Ornithological Work of 
Section D in 1850. 
The only other Ornithological information publicly given during 
: the week, was the instructive lecture of Dr. Mantell, upon the extinct 
birds of New Zealand, delivered in the Musie Hall, on the evening 
of the 5th August. The time was much too short to allow a com- 
Plete exposition of the subject, but sufficient we would‘hope was 
Said to interest the hearers, and to cause every one who had friends 
°Y opportunities in these distant islands, to lend their help to trace 
the former history and fate of those gigantic bipeds, which bear so 
strongly upon the changes and distribution of animal life during a 
historic period. Dr. Mantell’s son, who has settled in New Zealand, 
has already sent large collections of the bones to his father, which 
have added much to our knowledge of their structure ; and Dr. Man- 
tell stated, that his last letter, received only about a fortnight ago, 
announced the despatch of a large collection of New Zealand Birds, 
"ets which was a skin, supposed to belong to the Notornis man- 
elli, a bird hitherto only known in a fossil state. 
87 
