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PREFACE. 
Ox concluding the Fifty-second Volume of ‘The 
Ibis ’ by the issue of the Two-hundred-and-fifth 
Number, we have again to acknowledge the unfailing 
support that we have received from our contributors. 
We have, in fact, been obliged to defer to the next 
volume some of the communications lately sent to us. 
But an octavo book, if of more than seven hundred 
pages (besides twelve plates), becomes rather in¬ 
convenient to handle. 
We may venture to call attention to Mr. Bucknill’s 
article in this volume on the Birds of Cyprus as 
likely to be of special interest to students of the 
Western Palsearctic Avifauna. Much, it is true, 
was already known to us of the birds of that 
interesting Island, but Mr. Bucknill has furnished us 
with an excellent general summary of our knowledge 
of its Avifauna, and, as he has returned to his official 
work in Cyprus, will, we are sure, not fail to 
continue his observations on its bird-life. 
Two other contributors to the present volume, 
Mr. S. A. Neave and Mr. I). Carruthers, have 
again left England for foreign countries : Mr. 
Neave has gone to East Africa, Mr. Carruthers to 
Central Asia. Both of these gentlemen are good 
observers and energetic collectors, and we may 
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