1V INTRODUCTION. 
journal was, at Cape Town, it has now become very 
scarce, and few complete copies are preserved in libraries 
at the present time. That from which this reprint has 
been prepared is in the possession of Professor Newton, 
and is the one referred to by him in The Ibis for 1868, 
p- 502. 
In the present volume we have reprinted the ornitho- 
logical portion only of Sir A. Smith’s papers, as they 
alone immediately concern us. The South African 
Quarterly Journal, however, contains many notes by him 
on the Mammals of South Africa besides other subjects. 
In 1834 Sir A. Smith undertook the superintendence 
of an expedition for exploring Central Africa at the 
instance of ‘The Cape of Good Hope Association for 
Exploring Central Africa,” and on his return published 
a report of his journey.* 
In an Appendix to this Report a number of mammals 
and birds are described for the first time, and the matter 
relating to the latter we reproduce here. 
No less than 3379 “skins of new and rare birds ” 
were obtained during the expedition, and at a General 
Meeting of the Members of the Association, held on the 
19th March, 1836, Sir John Herschell in the chair, it 
was resolved, amongst other things, that the rarer part 
of the collections should not be disposed of by public 
sale until they had been examined and described, and a 
committee was appointed to carry out this resolution. 
This committee resolved, on 23rd March, to reserve the 
more valuable and interesting portions of the collections 
for exhibition in Kurope, and many of the specimens 
were stuffed by “‘ Mr. Verreaux of Cape Town ” for that 
purpose. 
* Report of the Expedition for Exploring Central Africa, from 
the Cape of Good Hope, June 23, 1834, under the superintendence 
of Dr. A. Smith. Published for the subscribers only. Printed at 
the Government Gazette Office, Grave Street, Cape Town. 1836. 
