Inaugural Address. 5 



Notwithstandinor, however, Le Vaillant's obvious errors 

 and misapprehensions, many, i£ not most, of his observations, 

 especially on the habits o£ Cape birds, have been confirmed 

 by subsequent observers, and there is no reason to reject his 

 whole work as unworthy of credence because he fell into a 

 certain number of errors. 



BURCHELL. 



The next visitor to South Africa who devoted special 

 attention to birds was William John Burchell (1782-18()3). 

 The son of a nurseryman at Fulham, he received as a 

 young man an appointment of schoolmaster in the island 

 of St. Helena ; while there he prepared himself assiduously 

 for his proposed journey to the interior of South Africa. 

 He landed in Table Bay in 1810, and shortly afterwards 

 started for the interior. Crossing the Orange River near 

 its junction with the Vaal, he reached Klaar water, now 

 called Griquatown, and subsequently Old Lattakun, not very 

 far from Kuruman. The published account of his travels 

 ends here ; but he spent three more years in Africa, and did 

 not return to England till 1817. He brought back with him 

 a very large collection of animals and plants ; the former 

 were deposited in the British Museum, where, however, they 

 were not taken very good care of or appreciated. The 

 account of his travels in two quarto volumes, beautifully 

 illustrated by drawings made by himself, was published in 

 1822 and 1824, and is, perhaps, the most accurate and 

 painstaking record ever produced dealing with South Africa. 

 Burchell did not devote special attention to birds, though he 

 must have brought back a good many specimens with him ; 

 he mentions a good many in his book, and describes a certain 

 number as new, while others were described by Sir William 

 Jardine and other ornithologists of the period. Burchell 

 subsequently travelled in South America, between the years 

 1825 and 1829, and finally died at Fulham in 1863. 



Burchell's merits never seem to have met with the appre- 

 ciation they deserved ; the only recognition of his genius 

 was the bestowal of an honorary degree of D.C.L. by the 



