Letters, Announcements, &;c. 1.25 



of ornithology should contain a preliminary sketch or resume 

 of the history and literature of the subject, followed by chap- 

 ters dealing with (1) the external characters of birds, (2) 

 their osteology, myology, and internal characters generally, 

 (3) their distribution in time, (4) the broad outlines of their 

 distribution in space, (5) their migrations, and (6), lastly, 

 their classification. Tbe last part, which should form the bulk 

 of the work, should include a systematic description of the 

 characters and distribution of the various subclasses, orders, 

 families, and genera. 



Such a work, worthily and adequately done, would furnish 

 in a compendious form much information now scattered and 

 inaccessible to most men, from the cost or scarcity of the 

 works in which it is contained, such works including the in- 

 numerable Transactions and Journals devoted to zoological 

 science. A compendium of the description I contemplate 

 would be indispensable to the library of every ornithologist, 

 whatever his standing may be, and would, I venture to sur- 

 mise, be esteemed a boon. 



In order to put my suggestion on a sound and practical 

 basis, and make perfectly clear my ideas as to the exact 

 nature and extent of the desideratum, I will mention a work, 

 recently published, which, to my mind, is a perfect model of 

 its kind, supplying this want most precisely and in an admi- 

 rable manner to another class of vertebrates, I refer to Dr. 

 Giinther's ' Study of Fishes,^ a book the value of which, from 

 practical experience, I find it impossible to overestimate, and 

 which, in fact, perfectly embodies the ideal of what a work of 

 the kind should be. For the information of those who may 

 be unacquainted with it, I may state that it is a moderately 

 large volume of about 750 octavo pages, well got up, amply 

 illustrated by woodcuts, and sold for twenty-four shillings. 



The production of such a work for the Aves can only be 

 undertaken satisfactorily by a first-rate ornithologist, well 

 versed in every department of the science ; and I believe that 

 in the hands of a specialist, on the one hand, or of a compiler, 

 on the other, the result would be a failure, or, at all events, 

 a disappointment. And surely the preparation of such a 



