Letters, Announcements, ^c. 289 



plateSj a performance quite unrivalled in any other branch of 

 literature. 



To our mind his ' Birds of Australia ' is by far the most 

 important from an ornithological point of view of all Gould^s 

 works. To obtain materials for this he made an expedition 

 to Australia himself in 1838, and for several years employed 

 skilled collectors in different parts of the country. He was 

 thus the means of adding enormously to what was previously 

 known of the avifauna of that continent. During the publica- 

 tion of ' The Birds of Australia ' Mrs. Gould died ; and Gould 

 had henceforth to employ artists to do the work so efficiently 

 performed by her who, in fact, first made his career possible, 

 and was the mainstay of his undertaking. 



As a collector of specimens Gould was unceasingly watch- 

 ful. For many years hardly a Humming-bird came to London 

 but he contrived to obtain it, or at least to see it ; and it was 

 thus that he amassed a vast collection of these beautiful birds, 

 the subjects of his monograph of the Trochilidse. A set of 

 these he mounted in glass shades, and exhibited in the gardens 

 of the Zoological Society during the Great Exhibition of 

 1851. To this mounted series he made additions from time 

 to time ; and it still remains a most attractive exhibition. 



To review the whole of Gould^s works is not our intention 

 here; nor is it necessary, as they are doubtless known to 

 most of our readers. The plates of these works are of great 

 merit; but, to our eye, there is always present in them too 

 much of studied effect, which detracts from their scientific 

 accuracy. To a patient ornithologist, seeking only the correct 

 determination of a species, a reference to one of Gould^s 

 plates is not always so satisfactory as could be desired. 



With systematic ornithology Gould did not trouble him- 

 self much : he always used to say he was follower of his first 

 master. Vigors, and was content with his scheme of arrange- 

 ment. But in discriminating minute specific differences 

 between allied forms Gould had few equals ; and though his 

 judgment on such points sometimes carried him too far, it 

 was seldom at fault. 



During the last few years of his life Gould suffered much 



