196 REPORT — 1844. 



birds of Patagonia, Terra del Fuego and the Falkland Isles, are described by 

 Mr. Darwin in the ' Zoology of the Voyage of the Beagle,' and by Capt. 

 King (Zool. Journal, vol. iii. and Zool. Proceedings, 1831). 



After the publication of Molina's not very accurate ' Saggio suUa storia 

 iiaturale del Chili,' fifty years elapsed without any addition being made to the 

 zoology of western South America. About 1831 M. Kittlitz published a 

 short paper on the birds of Chili in the ' Memoires de I'Academie Imperiale 

 de St. Petersbourg,' in which several new and curious generic forms are for 

 the first time indicated. Descriptions of a few Chilian birds will also be found 

 in the 'Journal de la Navigation de la Fregate Thetis,' 1839, and in papers 

 by M. Meyen in the ' Nova Acta Ac. Leop. Car.,' vol. xvi., and by M. Lesson 

 in the ' Revue Zoologique,' 1842. Subsequently the 'Voyage dans I'Auie- 

 rique Meridionale,' by M. D'Orbigny, and the ' Zoology of the Beagle,' by 

 Mr. Darwin, have greatly extended our knowledge of this region. Nor ought 

 I to omit the brief but very interesting notes on the birds of Chili by Mr. 

 Bridges, in the ' Proceedings of the Zool. Soc.,' 1843, or the full list of Peru- 

 vian birds lately published at Berlin by M. Tschudi, in which many new 

 species are described. Most of the species originally described by Molina 

 are now identified with accuracj^ and the long and narrow tract extending 

 the whole length of South America, between the Andes and the Pacific, is 

 shown to possess a peculiar and a highly interesting fauna. 



M. A. D'Orbigny, who prosecuted his scientific researches for several years 

 in South America, traversing the interior from Buenos Ayres to Columbia, 

 has reaped a ricli harvest of zoology, which is embodied in his ' Voyage dans 

 I'Amerique Meridionale.' Besides discovering many new species of birds, he 

 has identified most of those described by Azara. The plates of his work are 

 however not so perfect as the text, the colouring being too vivid, and the 

 figures unnecessarily I'educed in size, when the natural dimensions might have 

 been more frequently retained. He has drawn some interesting conclusions 

 respecting the distribution of species through various zones of southern lati- 

 tude, and through zones, in some degree corresponding to these, of elevation. 

 Such generalizations, when carefully made, never fail to throw light on philo- 

 sophical zoology. 



3. Ornithological Monographs. 



No method is so effective in advancing zoological science as that by which 

 an author gives his whole attention to some special group or genus, examines 

 critically all the works of previous writers that relate to it, adds his own ori- 

 ginal observations, and publishes the result in the shape of a Monograph. 1 

 will briefly notice the works of this kind which have appeared of late years. 



The different species of Vultur known up to 1830 were critically analysed 

 by M. RUppell in the ' Annales des Sciences Naturelles ' for that year, and his 

 remarks must be studied by all who attempt to define the species of that in- 

 tricate group. 



The characters of the family Strigidce and of its subdivisions are treated of 

 by M. I. Geoffroy St. Hilaire in 'Ann. Sc. Nat.,' 1830. 



Mr. Swainson published a monograph of the genera Tachyphotius and Ty- 

 rannus in the 'Quarterly Journal of Science,' London, 1826. Although several 

 species have been discovered since, and new genera proposed, yet these papers 

 still possess considei'able value. An essay on the Cuculida; by the same 

 author is inserted in the ' Mag. of Zool. and Botany,' vol. i. 



M.Menetrieshas published in the 'Mem. del' Acad.Imp.de St. Petersbourg,' 

 1 835, a monograph of the Myiotherince, preceded by an historical account of 

 the authors who have treated of this complicated group. This memoir is a 



