to Gould's ' Birds of Asia.' 51 



are remarkable for their accuracy and give many details of 

 the anatomy of the species figured. In 1844 Mr. Hodgson 

 gave a complete catalogue of the Birds of Nepal in Gray's 

 ' Zoological Miscellany/ founded on the above-named draw- 

 ings and his own ample collections. In 1849 he again pre- 

 sented the British Museum with a collection of animals, and 

 gave largely to the museums of other countries also, Blyth's 

 ' Catalogue ' testifying to his munificence as regards Calcutta. 

 On his return to India his subsequent collections were given 

 to the India Museum at Fife House ; but after the closing 

 of that establishment he again presented a large number of 

 specimens to the British Museum, ia 1859. Two lists of 

 Mr. Hodgson's donations have been published by the Trus- 

 tees of the last-named institution — one in 1846, and another 

 in 1863. 



In commencing to write the ' Birds of Asia/ Mr. Gould 

 followed the majority of naturalists in treating the continent 

 according to its political boundaries. In those days it must 

 be remembered that Dr. Sclater had not revolutionized the 

 study of ornithology by his division of the earth into natural 

 aoo-geographical regions, nor had Mr. Wallace arisen to 

 point out to us the demarcation between the Indo-Malayan 

 and Austro-Malayan subregions, while the existence of a 

 Mediterraneo-Persic subregion had not been forced upon the 

 attention of ornithologists. We have not space here to dis- 

 cuss in detail the zoo-geographical divisions of the continent 

 of Asia ; but the natural divisions into which it is partitioned 

 may be studied to advantage in two works — Mr. Wallace's 

 'Geographical Distribution of Animals,' and Captain Elwes's 

 paper '' On the Geographical Distribution of Asiatic Birds," 

 published in the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society of 

 London' for 1873. 



It will therefore be understood that, when the late Mr. 

 Gould commenced his work, the area which he intended to 

 embrace was a very large one ; and it is not surprising that 

 thirty-three years should have been insufficient to complete 

 less than a quarter of the undertaking. Species from Pales- 

 tine to the westward, and from the Moluccas to the east^ 



e2 



