personal friend to many of us but also a serious blow to ornithology and to international science. To many ornithologists he was mainly known through his pioneer studies in bird navigation--which were both original and penetrating--but he did equally outstanding work in several other fields. His doctor's thesis, on the function of the lateral line organs of the South African Clawed Frog, attracted wide attention and he later published important investigations into the behaviour of birds and lizards, and into the metabolism, comparative morphology, taxonomy and evolution of the latter. He was also an authority on problems of allometric growth. Before the war he held positions in the marine biological stations of Rovigno d'Istria and of Naples, and many zoologists all over the world are deeply indebted to him for his generous help and encouragement. Yet he will always be remembered first and foremost for his brilliant work on the orientation of birds. It was Kramer who, immediately after the war, initiated new methods and who discovered the sun navigation of migrating Starlings. Characteristically (for he always felt challenged by difficulties which seemed unsurmountable to most of us) he switched to the question of homing, an even tougher problem than that of " m e r e " directionfinding. Nor did he neglect the question of the internal clock so closely linked to celestial navigation. His approach to this complex of interrelated problems was the opposite of narrow, and yet extremely cautious and critical. He had the courage and honesty