616 BIBLIOGEAPHICAL APPENDIX. 1831 [50 



(1811) 1831. Pallas, P. S.— Continued. 



actus. Ixxviii, Sterna caspia. Ixxx, Cepphus perdix. Ixxxii, Lunda cirrhata. 

 Ixxxiii, Limda arctica. Ixxxiy, Lunda psittacula. ]xxxv,Uria senicula. Ixxxvi, 

 77. cristutella. Ixxxvii, 77. dubia. Ixxxviii, 77. tetracula. Ixxxix, 77. mystacea. 

 xc, 77. pusilla. — I cannot resolve the uncertainty about these plates and shonld 

 be thankful for inforiuafion. They are said to have appeared (some or all of 

 them), and I have seen them quoted as "Icones .id Zoographiam Rosso-Asiali- 

 cam, fasc. i-vii, 1834 et seq." 



1831. Richardson, J. [Exhibition of New Species of Birds from British 

 America, about to be described in the forthcoming ' Fauna Boreali- 

 Americana'.] <i P. Z. S., \, 1831, p. 132. 

 Twenty -three species ; names only. 



1831. SwAiNSON, W., and Eichardson, J. Fauna | Boreali-Americana ; | or 

 the 1 Zoology | of the | northern parts | of | British America ; | con- 

 taining I descriptions of the objects of na.tural history collected 

 by the late northern land | expeditions under command of Captain 

 Sir John Franklin, R. N. | Part Second, | The Birds. | By William 

 Swainson, Esq., F. R. S.,F. L. S., | honorary or corresponding mem- 

 ber of several foreign societies. | And John Richardson, M. D., F. R. 

 S., F. L. S., I member of the geographical and zoological societies of 

 London, of the Weruerian natural history society of Edinburgh, of 

 the I literary and historical society of Quebec, and foreign member 

 of the geographical society of Paris, | Surgeou and Naturalist to 

 the Expeditions. | — | Illustrated by numerous plates and wood- 

 cuts. I — I Published under the authority of the right honourable 

 the Secretary of State | for colonial affairs. | — | London : | John 

 Murray, Albemarle-street. | — | MDCCCXXXI. 1 vol. 4to. pp. 

 lxvi,524, pll. 24-73 (cont. from vol. I), and 41 woodcc. 



The influence which this work exerted cannot well be overstated. It occu- 

 pied in the present century the place previously iilled by the works of Edwards, 

 Forster, Pennant, and Latham, so far as the birds of America north of 49° N. 

 lat. are concerned; for forty years following its publication, it was the chief 

 source of inspiration of numberless writers upon the same subject, and it con- 

 tinues to be a standard authority. The book has considerable unwritten his- 

 tory, touching its joint-authorship and some other matters, scraps of which 

 have come to the surface, as, for instance, in a passage of the memorable contro- 

 versy between Mr. Swainson and N. A. Vigors ; but Dr. Eicbardsou's policy 

 seems to have always kept the surface smooth, whatever went on underneath. 



The work has a twofold character— it is an account of the Birds of the Fur 

 Countries, interspersed with contributions from Mr. Swainson to general orni- 

 thology—the latter in the shape of disquisitions, foreign to the scope "and 

 purpose of the book, upon the quii'ary, miscalled the natural, system ; wildly 

 speculative articles which, though in the fashion at the time, add considerably to 

 the bulk of the volume without perceptibly increasing its value, and are chiefly 

 noticed now because they include several new tenable generic names. 



Dr. Richardson's Introduction (pp. i-xl), constituting a treati.'to by itself, opens 

 with a historical sketch of the subject. The coUectior s made on the Arctic 

 coasts during the voyages of Ross and Parry are described along with those 

 made in the interior on the Franklin expeditions whiih Dr. Richardson accom- 

 panied. The circumstances under which the latter were made are detailed, and 

 the general character of the avifauna is sketched. Various elaborate tables 

 follow, displaying the several categories of species, their movements, etc. The 

 remainder of the Introduction is occupied by Mr. Swainson, more suo; the Pre- 

 face is from the same hand, though it is less distinctively quiiiari,aii. The body 

 of the work treats formally of 23b species, giving detailed descriptions, miscel- 



