INTRODUCTION. ix 



genera and species he followed no regular plan, but often re- 

 corded the essential facts with extreme looseness. By adopting 

 a concise and conversational style he perhaps rendered his sub- 

 ject more generally popular, but he diminished the scientific 

 accuracy of his work. After giving a brief definition of his 

 groups, it was his custom to append in a note a list of such 

 species as he referred to them; and in these cases, instead of 

 giving in Latin the generic and specific name which he intended 

 each species to retain, he merely quotes them under the old 

 title of the author to whose work he refers, and frequently no 

 other title is given than the barbarous names employed by Buffbn 

 and Levaillant. It follows from this, that in referring to the 

 work of Cuvier, the only way to record the place which he him- 

 self assigned to any given species, was to quote, not the title as 

 it stands in his work, but to take his generic name and append 

 to it the specific name used by the older author whose work he 

 quotes." 



When Gray's List of Birds in the British Museum is quoted 

 without a date, the edition of 1848 is referred to. 



Many birds, whether from the same country or from difi'erent 

 localities, are by some ornithologists considered distinct, by others 

 as identical ; for example, Pandion haliaetus and carolinensis, 

 Falco peregrinus and anatum : this however is a matter of opinion 

 only ; and where Mr. Strickland kept them distinct and imder 

 different names, the identity not being in any way proved, we 

 have allowed them to remain, and the synonyms apply to that 

 particular name under which they are placed ; thus, Vultur 

 cinereus and monachus are kept under their respective names 

 as distinct, though by several naturalists they are looked upon 

 as identical. On the other hand, Pandion haliaetus and caro- 

 linensis, Falco peregrinus and anatum, are, without doubt, iden- 

 tical, and are almost by common consent made so : these and 

 some others are also placed separately, but under one number, 

 the second being distinguished by a letter (102. and 102 a.) ; 

 and thus the synonyms relating to the birds from the different 

 countries can be at once seen ; whereas had they been arranged 

 together according to date, they must have been mixed with 

 each other. It should be observed, however, that in the MS. 

 these specific names were always kept upon a separate pai)er ; in 



