PREFACE 



In the History of the Aquatic Birds of Canada and 

 the United States, I have made use of the same author- 

 ities quoted in the preceding volume of the Land Birds, 

 with such additions as have been more recently pub- 

 lished ; and, amongst these, I may mention, as preemi- 

 nently useful, the great work of Doctor Richardson and 

 Swainson, on the Zoology of the Northern and Arctic 

 regions of the American continent ; in the second volume 

 of which is contained an ample history of all the birds 

 of those countries, and more particularly such as were 

 discovered in the remote hyperboreal tracts examined 

 and explored by the enterprising and scientific individuals, 

 attached to the several public parties sent out for the 

 purpose, by the enlightened liberality of the British Gov- 

 ernment. From this work, so important in the history 

 of the present tribes, I have derived much important 

 information on which I could well rely, from the acknow- 

 ledged skill and accuracy of their respective authors. At 

 an advanced period of the publication, I also received 

 much interesting information from my eminent friend Mr. 

 Audubon, and I have only to regret that the w^hole 

 manuscript had not been placed under his revision. The 

 Synopsis of C. Bonaparte, the Prince of Musignano, has 



