THE BIRDS OF TOKTUGAL. 185 



Coimbra, wbicli (so far as T can ascertain) comprehend all 

 the natural-liistory collections in tlie country; and there 1 

 carefully examined, verified, and catalogued every speci- 

 men asserted to have been captured in Portugal. Lastly, 

 I was fortunate in meeting with many intelligent men, 

 who were not only willing to impart valuable information, 

 but were able to do so in a language which I could under- 

 stand : amongst these, I must especially mention Dr. 

 Snche and Professor Barbosa du Bocage, — the former a 

 fellow-labourer of Vigors, an experienced collector and 

 preserver of some of the larger mammals and reptiles in 

 South America ; the latter, the scientific and indefatigable 

 director of the Museum at Lisbon, with whom I had many 

 pleasant interviews, and who pointed out to me the more 

 remarkable objects in the national collection, which (thanks 

 to his exertions) is already assuming considerable import- 

 ance, and must, in the course of a few years, if the present 

 admirable system is continued, become extremely rich, 

 not only in home specimens, but in the productions of 

 the Portuguese foreign possessions and of the Brazils. 



I should add, that, since my return to England, I have 

 submitted the small collection of Portuguese birds which 

 I had time to preserve to the well-known ornithologist and 

 author, the Rev. H. B. Tristram ; and, as I have his per- 

 mission to quote his remarks upon them, I shall freely do 

 so, inasmuch as I am quite sure that the brief comments 

 of such a master in ornithology will be of more real value 

 than all my observations. 



In the article alluded to above, which I published in the 

 'Ibis,' I enumerated 193 species, as identified by myself, 

 either in the flesh or in the Portuguese collections at 

 Lisbon and Coimbra ; I also made incidental mention of 

 fifty-seven others, as confidently asserted to be well-known 

 in Portugal by those on whose accuracy I could rely. 

 This made a total of 250 ; and I added that the catalogue 



