52 Mr. R. B. Sharpe's Introduction 



have been figured in the ' Birds of Asia ; ' and it is equally 

 certain that a larger number of new species have been dis- 

 covered by ornithologists in the course of a year than were 

 figured by Mr. Gould in the single part of the ' Birds of 

 Asia' which he issued annually. It may not be uninter- 

 esting, however, to glance rapidly over the countries included 

 in Asia by the author of the present work, and to estimate 

 the increase of knowledge which has taken place since he 

 commenced his gigantic task. Of the ornithology of Siberia 

 but little was known up to the year 1850, beyond the writ- 

 ings of the old Russian travellers Pallas andGmelin. Since 

 the above-mentioned date, the explorations of Middendorff, of 

 Schrenck, and of Radde have greatly increased our knowledge, 

 while the travels of Dr. Finsch on the river Ob have added 

 many interesting particulars respecting that region. One of 

 the most important expeditions, however, to this portion of 

 Northern Asia was that undertaken by our countryman Mr. 

 Henry Seebohm, who in 1877 visited the valley of the Yen- 

 e-say, discovered the breeding-places of many birds (unknown 

 up to that date), and brought back large collections of 

 animals from that little-known portion of the globe. His 

 experiences and adventures are related in his work ' Siberia in 

 Asia,' one of the most entertaining books of travel w^hich it 

 has ever been our lot to peruse. Central Asia remained for 

 a longtime a terra incognita to the naturalist ; but about the 

 year 1872 Dr. Severtzoff commenced to publish the results 

 of his journeys through Turkestan, while at the same time 

 the mission to Yarkand despatched by our government, under 

 the leadership of Sir Douglas Forsyth, was also successful 

 from an ornithological point of view ; and the book ' Lahore 

 to Yarkand,' published by Mr. A. O. Hume and Dr. Hen- 

 derson the naturalist to the expedition, is full of interest to 

 the ornithologist. South-we^tern Asia, or at least that part 

 of it embraced in the Mediterraneo-Persic subregion of 

 modern writers, still requires considerable exploration before 

 we can be considered to have a thorough knowledge of its 

 ornithology. The birds of the Caucasus- have been treated 

 of by Menetries ; and more recently Professor Bogdanoff 



