VI IXTllODUCTIOX. 



principally founded on tlie ' Catalogue of Fossil Birds ' written by 

 Mr. R. Lydekker, F.E.S., and published by the Trustees in ISiil. The 

 proofs of the present volume have been submitted to Professor Milne- 

 Edwards, the leading authority on the subject, and ako to Dr. Shufeldt, 

 who has done much work on the fossil forms of bird-life in America. 

 1 am, however, especially indebted to my colleague, Mr. C. W. Andrews, 

 of the Geological Department, who has kindly looked over all the 

 proofs ; I am under great obligations to him for useful hints and 

 corrections. All extinct forms are printed in antique type, and the 

 latter has also been adopted for recent species now known to be 

 extinct, such as Camptolcemus labradorius (p. 225). 



I cannot too warmly express my thanks to the undermentioned 

 ornitliologists, who have revised the proof-sheets of this work, and given 

 to it the importance of an international publication. Many of them 

 have freely given me their original notes, have saved me from many 

 slips, and have greatly enhanced the value of the work. I can only 

 assure them of my gi-atitude for their unselfishness, and nothing in my 

 life has pleased me more than to receive the co-operation of so many of 

 the leading ornithologists of the day, as has been the case in the present 

 instance. 



Proofs have been submitted to and corrected by the following 

 ornithologists : — 



En(jland.— Hon. Walter Eothscbild, M.P., Mr. Ernst Hartert, 



Dr. P. L. Sclater, Mr. ^V. E. Ogilvie Grant, Mr. W. P. 



Pycraft, Mr. Howard Saunders, Mr. E. AV. Gates. 

 France. — Professor Milne-Edwards, Dr. E. Oustalet. 

 Holland. — Dr. Otto Eiusch. 

 Germany. — Professor A. Eeichenow, Dr. A. B. Meyer, Count 



von Berlepsch. 

 liussia. — Dr. Bianchi. 

 Italy. — Count Salvador! . 

 America. — Prof. Elliott Coues, Prof. Eobert Eidgway, Dr. L. 



Stejneger, Prof. J. A^ Allen, Mr. Erauk M. Chapman, Mr. 



C. W. Eichmond. 



