3/0 Obituary. 
Sun-birds were published in Parts, from July 28, 1876, to 
February 1880. The Family of the Nectariniidse, he tells us, 
inhabits Africa, Madagascar and the neighbouring islands, 
Palestine, Southern Asia, Sumatra, Java, Borneo, the Philip¬ 
pines, Celebes, New Guinea, North Australia, and the 
Papuan and Moluccan Archipelagos. They are not found 
in Europe or North Africa, Northern Asia, nor in any 
portion of the Western Hemisphere. Captain Shelley’s first 
attraction towards the family of Sun-birds took place in 
Nubia, where he fell in with a the first truly tropical form 
of bird that he had ever procured/'’ “ The sense of 
pleasure”—as he tells us — u with which I preserved my first 
specimens of this beautiful little bird on the banks of the 
Nile above the First Cataract, and the engaging habits of 
the species, impressed me so much that on all my subsequent 
visits to the African Continent I paid especial attention to 
the Sun-birds in every country I visited.” In 1870, Captain 
Shelley heard that the late Marquis of Tweeddale and 
Mr. Bowdler Sharpe contemplated the production of a 
Monograph of the Nectariniidse, and it was only on their 
making no signs in this direction that, after the lapse of 
some years, he commenced to write his now famous work. 
To employ his own words : “ If I have succeeded in reducing 
the family to a better state of order than it before exhibited, 
it is in a great measure due to the kindly assistance which 
I have received from ornithologists in all parts of the world; 
while at the same time I feel that I have left no stone 
unturned, nor spared any pains in my endeavour to make 
my Monograph as complete as circumstances would allow/’ 
Captain Shelley was ably assisted by Dr. Bowdler Sharpe, 
who put him in the right road at the commencement, and 
lent him every sort of assistance throughout, wherever 
doubtful points required advice. The late Marquis of 
Tweeddale generously placed the whole of his valuable 
collection of Sun-birds at Shelley’s service. This included 
a large number of examples of the scarce Philippine forms, 
without which the work would have been imperfect. So 
great an undertaking required encouragement, especially at 
