HISTORICAL PREFACE. 



The Audubonian Epoch : 1824-1853. 

 (1824-1831.) 



The Bonapartian Period. — A princely person, destined to die one of the most 

 famous of modern naturalists — Charles Lucien Bonaparte, early conceived and executed 

 the plan of continuing Wilson's work in similar style, if not in the same spirit. He 

 began by publishing a series of " Observations on the Nomenclature of Wilson's Orni- 

 thology," in the "Journal" of the Philadelphia Academy, 1824-25, republished in an 

 octavo volume, 1826. This valuable critical commentarj'- introduced a new feature, — 

 decided changes in nomenclature resulting from the sifting and rectification of synonymy. 

 It is here that questions of synonymy — to-day the bane and drudgery of the working 

 naturalist — first acquire prominence in the history of our special subject. There had 

 been very little of it before, and Wilson himself, the least " bookish " of men, gave it 

 scarcely any attention. Bonaparte also in 1825 added several species to our fauna upon 

 material collected in Florida by the now venerable Titian R. Peale, — whose honored 

 name is thus the first of those of men still living to appear in these annals. Bonaparte's 

 "American Ornithology," uniform with "Wilson," and generally incorporated therewith 

 in subsequent editions, as a continuation of Wilson's work, was originally published in 

 four large quarto volumes, running 1825-33. The year 1827, in the midst of this work 

 ■of Bonaparte's, was a notable one in several particulars. Bonaparte himself was very busy, 

 producing a " Catalogue of the Birds of the United States," which, with a " Supplement," 

 raised the number of species to 366, and of genera to 83 ; nearly a hundred species 

 having been thus become known to us since Ord laid aside the pen that Wilson had 

 dropped. William Swainson the same year described a number of new Mexican species 

 and genera, many of which come also into the " North American " fiiuna. But the most 

 notable event of the year was the appearance of the first five parts of Audubon's elephant 

 folio plates. In 1828-29, as may also be noted, Ord brought out his three-vol. 8vo 

 edition of Wilson. In 1828, Bonaparte returned to the charge of systematically cata- 

 loguing the birds of North America, giving now 382 species ; and about this time he 

 also produced a comparative list of the birds of Rome and Philadelphia. His main 

 work having been completed in 1833, as just said, Bonaparte continued his labors with 

 a " Geographical and Comparative List of the Birds of Europe and North America," 

 published in London in 1838. This brochure gives 503 European and 471 American 

 .species. The celebrated zoologist wrote until 1857, but his connection with North 

 American birds was only incidental after 1838. The period here assigned him, 1824- 

 1831, may seem too short: but this was the opening of the Audubonian epoch — a 

 period of brilliant inception, and one in which events that were soon to mature their 

 splendid fruit came crowding fast ; so that room must be made at once for others who 

 were early in the present epoch. 



(1831-1832.) 

 The Swahisonio-Richardsonian Period. — The " Fauna Boreali-Americana," the 

 ornithological volume of which was published in 1831, made an impression so indelible 

 that a period, albeit a brief one, must be put here. The technic of this celebrated 



