xvi INTRODUCTION. 



remarkable cliflference between one family and another in the date, 

 duration, and number of the annual moults, so ably pointed out by 

 Nauraann, INIacgillivray, Adamson, and others, are in too many cases 

 ignored ; but in many respects it reflects credit on both editors. 



Wliilst the fourth edition of Yarrell was in course of publication a 

 still more ambitious work appeared. Dresser's ' Birds of Europe ' (1871- 

 81). I have had occasion to correct so many errors in Dresser's book, 

 that I have pleasure in being able to say that it must, in my opinion, be 

 regarded as one of the most successful ornithological compilations which 

 have been published, though it is the compilation of a writer whose 

 personal knowledge of birds appears to be very small, though his oppor- 

 tunities of acquiring it have been large. An accurate acquaintance with 

 the numberless details which comprise the habits of birds can only be 

 acquired by committing them to paper on the spot. 



It is a remarkable fact that whilst on the continent of Europe the 

 greater number of ornithological publications are the works of various 

 officials — doctors, professors, or what not — attached to the Government 

 Museums, in the British Islands the principal work has been done by 

 amateurs. A history of the study of ornithology in Great Britain would, 

 however, be incomplete without a mention of the works of the i)resent and 

 the late ornithological curators of the British Museum. Gray's ' Genera of 

 Birds' (1844-49) and his 'Hand-list of Birds' (1869-71) are too useful, 

 with all their faults, to be entirely ignored. Few living ornithologists have 

 done more work or had a more beneficial influence in directing the 

 work of others than R. Bowdler Sharpe. When his ' Monograph of the 

 Kingfishers' appeared (1868-71) the ornithological world was startled to 

 find how valuable a work it was possible for a young man (he was only 18 

 when the first number appeared) to compile. It was Sharpe who planned 

 Dresser's ' Birds of Europe,' and put it into working order, on the same 

 lines as his ' Kingfishers ; ' and ' The Ibis ' and the ' Proceedings of the 

 Zoological Society' abound with valuable contributions from him on the 

 birds of South Africa, Borneo, &c. But the reputation of Sharpe will 

 rest on his great work, the ' Catalogue of Birds in the British IMuseum,' a 

 monograph of the birds of the world, of w^hich he has already produced 

 seven volumes. From its nature it is purely museum work — synonymy 

 and skins, an index to the literature of each species, a description of the 

 various plumages of each, a key to the genera of each family and to the 

 species of each genus, and a brief summary of the geographical distribution 

 of each. Like most otlier good work in this world, it is the evolution of 

 order out of chaos. 



llarting's ' Handbook of British Birds' (1872) is valuable for its lists 

 of the various alleged occurrences of the rarer species. John's ' British 

 Birds' (1871) is perhaps the best cheap book on the subject. 



