THE ZOOLOGIST:

A MONTHLY JOURNAL

OF

NATURAL HISTORY.

THIRD SERIES-VOL. XV.

EDITED BY

J. E. HARTING, F.L. S., F. Z. S.,

MEMBER OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION,

DELECTANDO PARITERQUE MONENDO.

LONDON:

SIMPKIN, MARSHALL, HAMILTON, KENT & CO., LIMITED.

1891.

PREFACE.

THE preparation of the Index to the volume for the closing year 1891 suggests many points for reflection, to some of which it may be well to refer.

And first, one cannot repress a feeling of sadness at the loss of those friends and contributors to zoological science who have been taken from amongst us during the past twelve months. We have had to deplore the death of such well-known scientists as the late Prof. Martin Duncan, Dr. P. H. Carpenter, and Prof. H. N. Moseley, and of such old and valued correspondents as the late Mr. Thomas Cornish and the Rev. T. H. Frere.

But although their names have dropped out from the list of living zoologists, the work which each has done in his own particular line (whether it be important original research, or the patient collection of observed facts) will live in the memory of fellow-workers, and in the annals of Zoology.

In other respects the past year for us has been calm and uneventful. From the numerous communications which continue to reach us from all quarters, it is evident that the study of Natural History has lost none of its charm, and we are glad to welcome every year the advent of fresh workers in the field of Zoology. The Editor trusts that in the year to come he may count upon the cordial support which has hitherto been accorded to him, while he on his part will endeavour still further to increase the utility of a Journal which for more than forty years past has been regarded as a storehouse for accumulating the results of the out-door observation of animals, and a medium of communication for field-naturalists. It has been hinted by friendly critics that the pages of The Zoologist' contain perhaps rather too much Ornithology to the exclusion of other branches of Zoology. But this only indicates the taste of a large number of contributors. Certainly if the Editor were