SCLATER ON THE ZOOLOGY OE NEW GUINEA. 151 



ment with the construction of a fort, and took formal possession 

 on the 24th of August, 1828, of the whole coast in the name of 

 the King of the Netherlands, with the usual solemnities. The 

 bay was christened "Triton's Bay," and the strait leading to it, 

 " Iris Strait," to commemorate the names of the two vessels. 

 After several years' occupation, this settlement was eventually 

 abandoned on account of the excessive unhealthiness of the lo- 

 cality ; but MM. Miiller and Macklot, the two scientific commis- 

 sioners, were by no means idle during their stay there on the first 

 foundation of the settlement, and it is to their industry that the 

 Leyden Museum is indebted for the finest series of specimens of 

 natural history from tbis wonderful country which is in existence. 

 It is much to be regretted that no full account has ever been 

 given to the public of these discoveries. In the magnificent work 

 entitled, ' Verhandelingen over de Natuurlijke Gesckiedenis der 

 Nederlansche overzeesche bezittingen,' in which the results of the 

 labours of the scientific commission are reported, it is stated that 

 119 species of birds were obtained in New Guinea ; but no com- 

 plete catalogue is given of them. In fact, in the zoology of this 

 work only monographs of one or two of the more noticeable 

 genera of birds are contained ; others are shortly characterized in 

 the foot-notes attached to the volume which treats of the Ethno- 

 graphy, and is entitled ' Land en Volkenkiinde,' whilst a large 

 remainder have as yet only received MS. names in the Leyden 

 Museum, under which many of them are inserted in Prince Bona- 

 parte's 'Conspectus,' often even without any attempt at descrip- 

 tive characters. 



The recently published volume on tbe zoology of the ' Voyage 

 au Pole Sud ' (the plates, of which were issued several years since), 

 contains several novelties in Papuan ornithology, which were met 

 with during the passage of the exploring vessels Astrolabe and 

 Zelee along the southern and western coasts of New Guinea ; and 

 some scattered notices on the same subject also occur in the 

 reports of one or two of the English expeditions. 



Erom all these sources we are acquainted with about 170 species 

 of birds inhabiting New Guinea ; a number which, when we consider 

 the large extent of its surface and the very small portion of it which 

 has been scientifically explored, consisting only of two small isolated 

 spots at its western extremity and parts of its southern coasts, we 

 may calculate to represent perhaps not more than one-third of the 

 species it really possesses. Of these species about 109 appear to be 

 peculiar to New Guinea, that is, they have not hitherto been found 



