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XIV. Systematic Arrangement and Description of Birds from the 

 Island of Java. By Thomas Horsfield, M.D. 



Read April 18, 1820. 



In the following essay a systematic arrangement of a collection 

 of birds from Java has been attempted. The subjects from which 

 the descriptions were made are placed in the Museum of the 

 Honourable East India Company, where they may freely be in- 

 spected. With the exception of a small number, they were 

 collected between the years 1811 and 1817, the period during 

 which this island formed part of the British possessions in India. 

 It is chiefly on this consideration that I am induced to offer to 

 the Linnean Society of London this essay, in its present state, 

 containing merely a concise characteristic description of the 

 subjects. It is also my duty to show to the naturalists of En- 

 gland, without delay, the liberal provision that has been made 

 by the Court of Directors of the Honourable East India Com- 

 pany in their Museum at the East India House, for the preserva- 

 tion of various objects of natural history from the Indian archi- 

 pelago, collected during the period above mentioned under the 

 patronage of the Honourable Sir T. S. Raffles, when Governor of 

 Java and its dependencies. 



I wish further to represent a view of the subject of the natu- 

 ral history of the Eastern Islands, relating particularly to the 

 present period. Although during the last two centuries few ad- 

 ditions have been made to this science in that part of the globe, 

 various discoveries may soon be expected in every department. 



Since 



