ON THE PROGRESS AND PRESENT STATE OF ORNITHOLOGY. 195 



been made of late years. The natural history of our own island of Jamaica 

 has experienced a degree of neglect which reflects but little credit upon the 

 energy of individuals or of the government. Almost the whole of our know- 

 ledge of its ornithology is derived from the obscure descriptions and wretched 

 figures in Sir Hans Sloane's ' Natural History of Jamaica,' published in the 

 beginning of the last century. A few stray species have since been described 

 by various authors, but nothing like a regular scientific survey of that beau- 

 tiful and interesting island has yet been, or, judging from appearances, is 

 likely to be, undertaken. The smaller West Indian islands have been equally 

 neglected by naturalists ; but few of their natural productions ever reach our 

 museums, and these are too often consigned to the cabinet without being 

 scientifically described or published. 



South America. — The birds of Columbia were till a recent period wholly 

 unknown (with the exception of a few brief notices by Humboldt in his 

 ' Recueil d'Observations de Zoologie,' 1811), but a considerable supply of 

 specimens has been lately sent to Europe from the province of Bogota, which 

 have added greatly to our knowledge. Many new species thus obtained have 

 been described by MM. De Lafresnaye, Boissonneau, Bourcier and De Lon- 

 guemare in the ' Magazin de Zoologie ' and ' Revue Zoologique,' and by 

 Mr. Fraser in the ' Proceedings of the Zoological Society.' Many of the 

 birds of that country are beautiful and interesting representatives of the 

 better-known species of Brazil, and the family of Tanagers in particular has 

 lately received large additions from that quarter. 



The ornithology of British Guiana is not yet so fully worked out as it de- 

 serves to be. Mr. Schomburgk has collected many species during his vari- 

 ous journeys in the interior, some of which have been characterized in mis- 

 cellaneous works ; but there is no collective publication of the natural history 

 of that colony. 



The ornithology of Brazil, on the other hand, is now very fully known, 

 many species having been described by the older authors, and many more 

 in recent times by Prince Maximilian of Neuwied, Spix, Swainson, and 

 others. 



The costly work of Spix, 'Avium species novas in itinere per Braziliam 

 collectae,' is valuable rather for the amount of new materials which the travels 

 of that author supplied, than for the skill or diligence with which those 

 materials were digested. A sounder criticism was applied by Prince Maxi- 

 milian of Wied, who has done much to illustrate the ornithology of Brazil, 

 not only in his travels in that country, and his ' Recueil de Planches Co- 

 loriees d'Animaux du Bresil,' but in his ' Beitriige zur Naturgeschichte von 

 Brazilien,' Weimar, 1832. A great number of species are there described 

 in detail, and the work is especially valuable as a supplement and commen- 

 tary to the writings of Azara and Spix. About 1833 Mr. Swainson com- 

 menced an illustrated work on the birds of Brazil, entitled, ' Ornithological 

 Drawings,' but it only attained to about seventy plates. The figures are well 

 drawn and carefully coloured; but they labour under the defect of being un- 

 accompanied by descriptions, without which even the best designs are often 

 insufficient for specific identification. M. Schreiber of Vienna commenced, 

 in 1833, the ' Collectanea ad Faunam Braziliae,' but only one number of the 

 work was ever published. Several Brazilian birds are also described by 

 Nordmann in the Atlas to Erman's ' Reise um die Erde,' 1835. 



Since the publication of the invaluable work of Azara, nothing has been 

 9^ded to the ornithology of Paraguay ; but as that country is intermediate to 

 Brazil, Chili and Patagonia, most of Azara's species have been procured by 

 naturalists who have visited the three last-named countries. Many of the 



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