Dr. L^otaud's 'Birds of Trinidad.' 105 



periodical in 1864 *, I am not aware of any work having 

 yet appeared relating specially to the ornithology of this 

 island. It was with very great pleasure therefore that I 

 received intelligence, some time since, that a resident in that 

 favoured region was engaged upon a special study of its birds ; 

 and ornithologists have now to return their best thanks to Dr. 

 Leotaud for the valuable addition he has made to their know- 

 ledge. 



It is not, of course, to be expected that any one residing so far 

 from the great civilized centres of scientific activity should be 

 able to compile a work upon a subject so novel without making 

 many mistakes. And it must at once be acjcnowledged that the 

 present work is by no means free from errors. But, besides 

 his distant residence, Dr. Leotaud has had other difficulties to 

 encounter. There is as yet no general work upon South Ameri- 

 can ornithology for the student of any particular portion of its 

 varied area to refer to ; and until such a work appears, no sort 

 of uniformity in the writings of the various authors who treat 

 of its different constituent parts can be expected. In the ab- 

 sence of any such efficient guide no one can complain that Dr. 

 Leotaud has thought it best to adopt the arrangement pro- 

 posed by Mr. G. R. Gray in his ' Genera of Birds.' This, how- 

 ever, has led him, particularly in the order Passeres, to associate 

 together many species of birds which are now nearly universally 

 allowed to belong to very different families, besides involving 

 the adoption of a somewhat antiquated style of nomenclature. 

 It would have been better, perhaps, to have taken as an outline 

 the arrangement put forward by Professor Baird in his ' Birds 

 of North America,' or that adopted by Dr. Cabanis in the third 

 volume of Schomburgk's ' Beise nach Guiana.' 



Besides Mr. Gray's ' Genera of Birds,' Dr. Leotaud only 

 cites, except in special cases, five other works — namely, Bona- 

 parte's ' Conspectus,' Vieillot's ' Nouveau Dictionnaire,' D'Or- 

 bigny's 'Birds of Cuba,' Gosse's 'Birds of Jamaica,' and 

 Wilson's 'American Ornithology.' Very few particulars as to 

 the rf.nge and distribution of the species are given j and the 

 * Ibis, 1864, p. 73. 



