PREFACE. 
In concluding the first volume of a new series of 
c The Ibis 5 the Editors beg leave to tender their 
best thanks to those who have contributed to its 
pages for the good supply of papers they have received 
during the year, and to congratulate the Members of 
the British Ornithologists’ Union on the excellent 
quality and great interest. of many of these com¬ 
munications. 
It is, indeed, evident that great activity is now 
prevalent in our favourite science, as in almost every 
other branch of Natural History. Never before 
were so many important publications on Ornithology 
in progress, never were there so many workers en¬ 
gaged in collecting specimens and observing facts 
in nearly every part of the world’s surface. 
The Editors look forward with confidence for a 
continuation of the support that has been accorded 
them. 
O. S. 
P. L. S. 
October 1877. 
