136 



THE OSPREY. 



ZOOI^OGICAL II.I.rSTKATIONS. 



Instead of proceeding;" imniediateU' to the sys- 

 tematic elucidation of the collections he had 

 made, Swainson determined on a publication 

 which \Yould only incidentally treat of the forms 

 he had brought together. 



His friend, Dr. William Elford L,each, a versa- 

 tile and accomplished natm^alist, the keeper of 

 the Zoological Department of the British Mu- 

 seum, had published for several years (1815-17), 

 in three volumes. The Naturalists' Miscellany. 

 As partly indicated by the title, the series was 

 composed of '■miscellaneous" or disconnected 

 notices of animals, some new and others interest- 

 ing" for some reason or other; these were the 

 accompaniments of plates, mostly colored, and 

 generally there was a leaf of text to each plate. 

 The precedent for such a publication had been 

 set by Leach's predecessor in the British Mu- 

 seum, Dr. George Shaw. It was suggestive for 

 Swainson and he resolved to do likewise. He 

 has g'iven the steps of progress in the following" 

 words. 



"It was about this time that the art of litho- 

 graphy was first introduced in Eng'land."-'" En- 

 couraged by my friend Dr. Leach, I d-^termined 

 to try how far it might be used in producing" 

 zoolog'ical plates fit for colouring". My attempts 

 succeeded; and the first series of the Zoolos^ical 

 Illustrations was the result. As I took upon 

 myself the whole expenses and management 

 of this work, I soon found that its publication, 

 in monthly numbers, rendered it necessary I 

 should superintend all its mechanical details: I 

 therefore quitted Liverpool, and took lodgings 

 in Surrj' Street, Strand, where I lived nearly the 

 life of a 'hermit in London' for two or three 

 years. The late hours, and style of visiting 

 customary in the metropolis, neither suited my 

 health, or the steady prosecution of my work. 

 I laboured hard, during the greater part of the 

 3'ear, to enjoy the leisure of autitmn among my 

 family and friends. My little book was favour- 

 ably received; and, thus encouraged, I brought 

 out the early n umbers of Exotic Conclioloffv. The 

 uncertainty-, however, which then attended the 

 lithographic process was so g"reat, that after 

 being frequently obliged to draw the same sub- 

 ject two or three times before the printer pro- 

 duced a tolerable impression, I was compelled to 

 suspend the publication, and confined myself to 

 the Illiistiations." 



These Illustrations were issued in parts of six 

 plates each: the text was confined to one leaf 

 and generally to the pag"e opposite the plate. 

 First the specific name was given; under it the 

 English name; next the "generic character," 

 first in Latin, and under that in English; then 

 the "specific character." likewise in Latin and 

 English, and, lasth', comments. Eleven num- 

 bers constituted a volume, and the equivalent of 

 a twelfth number consisted of title pag"es. pre- 

 face, "general index an the order of publica- 

 tion," and "general alphabetic index. " For the 

 benefit of those who should prefer to bind the 

 plates according to subjects, three special title 

 pages were furnished as well as a "systematic 



index" for each — /. c. for the "Vertebrosa," 

 "Entoniolog"y," and "Conchology." 



The plates of this work were greatly supe- 

 rior to those of most of the illustrated works of 

 the time, generally the drawing" was good, and 

 the coloring" well applied. There was also, on 

 the whole, continued improvement with the 

 progress of the series. 



Swainson's character, as well as the character 

 of the work under consideration, may be better 

 appreciated by a brief analysis of the Illustra- 

 tions. 



72 plates are devoted to "Vertebrosa," (so he 

 calls vertebrates.) all except 2 being of birds; 

 39 illustrate insects, and 93 shells. 



Of the 69 species of birds, 39 are American — 

 tropical American — and are represented in 40 

 plates, the two sexes of his Trocliiliis latipC7inis 

 {Ca>iipylopterus largipcn)tis of Boddaert) being 

 represented on separate plates (130, 131). Of the 

 39 species, only 10 (nos. 19, 20, 21, 25, 78, 82, 116, 

 117, 138, 141,) are explicitly declared to have been 

 collected by himself in Brazil. It is noteworth3'^ 

 that for those species no details respecting" habits 

 or mode of occurrence are given. The mere 

 statement that a species is common in Brazil 

 does not necessarily imply that the specimen 

 illustrated was obtained by Swainson in that 

 country. For example, a bird named Xcctaiinia 

 Jlavcola and identified with the Ceithia flavcola 

 of Gmelin — a species of the genus which has 

 been generally called Ccrtliiola — is not the com- 

 mon Cerlhiola [C. ciiloropygci Cab.) of Brazil but 

 was declared by Mr. Ridgway, on consulting with 

 him, to be the C. innrtinicana of the island of 

 Martinique: a comparison of the plate (142) with 

 specimens of that species proved that the figure 

 well illustrates that form which differs markedly 

 from the only Brazilian congener known. Inas- 

 much as Swainson declares that "this pretty 

 little bird, under dift'erent varieties of plumage, 

 appears to be scattered over the greatest part of 

 tropical America, and is one of the most common 

 of its tribe," it might be supposed naturally 

 that he procured specimens and that the speci- 

 men figured was one of them. Nevertheless, for 

 some reason he selected the specimen figured 

 which, he says, "I believe came from Trinidad. " 

 His belief (in so far at least as it implied 

 original provenance) was therefore mistaken. 



Of the 40 plates of American species, 14 (nos. 

 19, 56, 89, 99, 100. 108. 115. 116, 117. 130. 131, 142, 

 169, 173,) are 3'ielded to the illustration of previ- 

 ously known or supposedly known species. 

 Generally the identifications are correct, but 

 one species supposed to be identical with an old 

 one proves to have been distinct and has been 

 named after Swainson [Biicco Scvainsoiiii figured 

 on pi. 99). 



Of the 26 supposed "new species", 12 (nos. 1, 

 21, 38, 49, 82. 83, 138, 139, 140, 141. 148. 174) had 

 been previously described and Swainson's lapses 

 resulted partly from insufiicient knowledge of 

 the literature and partly (therefore excusable) 

 from the imperfection or insufficiency' of the de- 

 scriptions previously published. The percent- 

 age of error under the circumstances was not 

 extravagant. 



*Lithography was introduced into London in 1807 and it soon became "fashionable for the nobility to design on stone." Its 

 secrets, however, were preserved as much as possible. 



