168 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOC1ETY,1S90. 



undoubtedly been much hampered by the mode of publication which the " Fauna 

 ot British India " has taken, for the compressed form in which the work is issued 

 gives the author no scope for detail, and the ornithological volumes will be but the 

 stepping-stones to a more elaborate work on the Avi-fauna of India, which, it is to 

 be hoped, Mr. Oates will have time to publish. When we think of what a real 

 fauuistic work is, much, for instance, as Godman's and Salvin's " Biologia 

 Centrali Americana," or Grandidier's " Histoire Naturelle de Madagascar," it 

 seems a pity that the more modest title of " Hand-book " was not retained 

 for the series of volumes on the Natural History of British India, over 

 which Mr. VV. T. Blanford presides. Granting, however, the restricted space which 

 was at Mr. Oates's disposal, his work of condensation could not have been more 

 ably performed, and he stands as a master of the art along with Mr. Salvin, Pro- 

 fessor Newton, and Mr. Howard Saunders, who are the greatest ornithological 

 experts in the compression of facts. 



With the publication of the present volume will probably commence the fourth 

 era in the history of Indian ornithology. The first we should call the " Blythian 

 Era" (1846—1860). To the previous labours of Jerdon (1840—1844) came the 

 supplementary labours of Blyth, whose residence in Calcutta was marked by that 

 wonderful series of papers on Indian Biology, which gathered up the threads of 

 information from all corners of the British Asian Empire, but which were never 

 published by the author in a connected form. Then came the " Jerdonian Era," 

 from 1860 — 1872, when Jerdon reduced to order all the scattered details of Indian 

 ornithology, and paved the way with his " Birds of India " for the " Humian 

 Era" (1870—1882). Around the name of Mr. A. O. Hume will cluster for ever 

 the memories of some of the best ornithologists which England has ever produced, 

 and the work which was done under his leadership was truly remarkable. The 

 collection which he personally made, the enthusiasm which he created in his 

 followers, the generalship with which he directed the studies of his coadjutors, 

 added to the untiring energy which he himself infused into every detail of his 

 ornithological scheme, have all combined to render tbe " Humian Era" remarkable 

 for its accomplishments in the history of ornithology. The purloining of his 

 MSS. by a rascally servant, involving the annihilation of the results of years of 

 patient labour, proved such a great disappointment for Mr. Hume, that he gave 

 his collection, one of the wonders of the scientific world, to the British Museum ; 

 and it is on this collection that the labours of Mr. Oates have mainly been based. 

 The Tweeddale collection of birds, and the unequalled library of ornithological 

 works, presented by Major Wardlaw B<amsay to the British nation, have, added to 

 the Hume collection, constituted all the material that was necessary for an author 

 in the production of his book ; and the facilities rendered by the authorities of the 

 Natural History Museum have enabled Mr. Oates to write his work with such 

 completeness that it will undoubtedly be considered as one of the most important 

 of contributions to ornithology of the present day, and with the year 1890 we 

 mav look forward to the commencement of the " Oatesian Era." 



