o*srH x. 
PREFACE. 
Tiie present volume, we venture to remind our 
readers, is the last of the Seventh Series of 4 The Ibis/ 
and the forty-second of the entire work. We think 
that the seven surviving Members of the small 
company of friends who founded the British Ornith¬ 
ologists’ Union at Cambridge, in 1858, may well 
be satisfied with the results which have sprung from 
their conference on that occasion. The Ordinary 
Members of our Union are now no fewer than 
three hundred and forty-four in number, while the 
names of some of our most valued Contributors are 
to be found in the highly representative lists of 
our Honorary and Foreign Members, scattered all 
over the civilized world. 
While thanking our friends and correspondents 
most sincerely for their valuable aid, without which 
4 The Ibis’ could not have been carried on, we may 
call attention to the fact that at the last Annual 
Meeting (see p. 528 of the present volume) it was 
agreed that the Editors of the Eighth Series should 
