186 REPORT — 1844. 



British India. — It is only within a very recent period that any really ori- 

 ginal and trustworthy researches have been made into Indian ornithology. 

 Twenty years ago the utmost that was done by the numerous British officers 

 in that country to illustrate this science, was to collect drawings of the species 

 which attracted their notice. These drawings were in most cases made by 

 native artists, who, being utterly ignorant of any scientific principles, executed 

 them in a stiff mechanical style, and neglected the more minute but often 

 highly important characters. Such designs are useful as aids to scientific 

 reseai'ch, but ought not to usurp its place ; yet from these materials the too 

 undiscriminating Latham described and named a great number of so-called 

 species, many of which have not yet been identified in nature. The largest 

 collection of these drawings was made by the late General Hardwicke, a selec- 

 tion of which were engraved and published in 1830 ; but though carefully 

 edited by Mr. J. E. Gray, the number of nominal species there introduced 

 shows the danger of founding specific characters on the sole authority of 

 drawings. 



A better day dawned about 1830, when several British officers in India 

 became interested in the study of scientific ornithology ; and we may hope 

 that natural history in this and all its other branches will now become a ge- 

 neral pursuit with our countrymen in that region. The first original contri- 

 bution to the ornithology of India in recent times was made by Major Franklin, 

 and was speedily followed by a valuable paper from Colonel Sykes, both of 

 which are inserted in the 'Proceedings of the Zoological Society,' 1831-32. 

 About the same period appeared the first effort of Mrs. Gould's pencil, the 

 ' Century of Birds from the Himalaya Mountains,' a work the plates of which 

 at once established the fame of this admirable artist, while the scientific cha- 

 racters were carefully prepared by Mr. Vigors. In 1832 was also commenced 

 that most valuable repertory of oriental knowledge, the ' Journal of the Asiatic 

 Society of Bengal,' which is still published with regularity at Calcutta. In 

 this journal and in others of a similar nature, as the ' Asiatic Researches,' the 

 ' Gleanings in Science,' Corbyn's ' Indian Review,' the ' Quarterly Journal of 

 the Calcutta Medical and Physical Society,' the ' Calcutta Journal of Natural 

 History,' are contained the valuable but unfortunately too scattered and in- 

 accessible zoological researches of Hodgson, Hutton, Pearson, Tickell, M'Clel- 

 land, W. Jameson and others. Mr. Hodgson, who by his residence in Nepal 

 has been so favourably circumstanced for zoological pursuits, has long since 

 promised to include in an entire work his scientific researches in that country, 

 but various delays have hitherto impeded the undertaking. He has recently, 

 with the utmost liberality, presented the whole of his precious materials to 

 the British Museum and other public collections, and we may hope that the 

 facilities of comparison thus afforded will enable him shortly to commence 

 this very desirable publication. 



The Indian species of Coturnix and Turnix have been described with mi- 

 nute exactness by Colonel Sykes in the ' Transactions of the Zoological So- 

 ciety,' vol. ii. This paper is of great service in clearing up the characters of 

 these obscure and ambiguous birds, which however are still far from being 

 thoroughly investigated. 



Professor Sundevall, in his valuable Report on recent Zoological Researches, 

 Stockholm, 1841, refers to a paper on the Birds of Calcutta in the 'Physio- 

 graphisk Tidskrift,' Lund, 1837, a work which has not yet fallen into my 

 hands. 



A great impulse has recently been given to Indian zoology by the appoint- 

 ment of Mr. Blyth to the care of the Asiatic Society's mus'eum at Calcutta. 

 Most of the previous workers in that field were civil or military officers, who 



