Obituary. 
371 
the outset, and Dr. Gunther gave Shelley every assistance 
at the British Museum, besides the stimulus he needed. 
Captain Shelley was an excellent shot and was never happier 
than when in pursuit of specimens of rare birds, which he 
collected, for the information of ornithologists in all parts of 
the world. 
In 1896 Shelley published the first volume of his e Birds 
of Africa/ a work intended to consist of a series of handy 
volumes dealing with the Ethiopian Avifauna, each volume 
being in itself complete. Four volumes followed at intervals, 
but the first part of the fifth volume, which appeared in 
1906, was destined to be the last from Shelley's own pen, 
for a sudden illness, a stroke of paralysis, brought his labours 
to an end. 
When the first volume of ‘The Birds of Africa' was 
published, Captain Shelley had sketched out the classification 
which he adopted down to the “ Keys of the Species," which 
he had intended to bring out as the second volume of the 
Series. But as the number of known Ethiopian forms 
increased very rapidly he realized how imperfect these 
u Keys " would be by the time he came to write the histories 
of the species. He, therefore, decided to work out each 
family in a monographic form. The classification was 
compiled partly from Seebohm's ‘ Classification of Birds,' 
and partly from that proposed by Sharpe at the Ornithological 
Congress held at Buda-Pest in 1896. 
It is understood that arrangements have been made with 
Mr. W. L. Sclater, formerly Director of the South African 
Museum, Cape Town, and author of 4 The Fauna of South 
Africa/ to complete Captain Shelley's work. 
Captain Shelley was for many years an active member of 
the British Ornithologists' Union, and from 1870 to 1894 
made numerous contributions, chiefly on African birds, to 
the pages of * The Ibis/ as will be seen by our List of his 
principal publications. He possessed great natural abilities, 
with something of that genius which has made the family- 
name famous. Gifted as he was by nature, he might have 
turned his mind to anything, and would have made his mark 
