108 Hecent Ornithulogicdl Publications. 



were before able to give, and enters very thoroughly into the 

 peculiarities of Pacitic ornithology, which is characterized, and 

 that strongly, by the presence of such remarkable forms as 

 Tatare, Erythrura, Leptornis, Sturnoides, Aplonis, Didunculus, 

 Serresius, Phlegwnas, Chryscena, and Prosohonia. Our earliest 

 authorities on this avifauna are the naturalists who accompanied 

 Cook on his first and second voyages, and after them the French 

 scientific expeditions of the ' Astrolabe ' in 1836, and of the \ 

 same ship and the * Zelee ' during what is commonly called the 

 " Voyage au Pole Sud." But the most considerable increase of 

 our knowledge in this respect is due to the United States' Ex- 

 ploring Expedition under Commodore Wilkes. The naturalists 

 attached to this enterprise, Messrs. Peale and Pickering, obtained 

 no less than fifty species of birds in the islands to which our 

 authors devote their attention. Lastly, in 1859, Mr. G. R. Gray 

 published bis * Catalogue of the Birds of the Tropical Islands 

 of the Pacific,^ which supplies us with a general index to pre- 

 vious ornithological observations in this part of the world, and 

 with many new localities furnished by specimens in the British 

 Museum. 



From these authorities, and from Dr. GrafFe's i-ecent investi- 

 gations, we are now acquainted with about one hundred species 

 of birds found within the limits to which our authors have re- 

 stricted themselves. Of tliese, 59 are met with in the Feejees, 

 48 in the Samoans, and 31 in the Tonga or Society Islands, while 

 18 seem to be peculiar to the first group, 14 to the second, and 

 4 to the third. 



The general character of the Central-Polynesian avifauna may 

 be learned from the fact that, out of these 100 species, 37 are also 

 common to Australia, among which are found such well-marked 

 generic forms as Platycercus, Ptilotis, Monarcha, Myiagra, 

 Myzomela, and Pachycephala; while, on the other hand, as in 

 Australia also, the Picidce and Bucerotidce are entirely wanting. 

 The two best-represented groups in central Polynesia are the Mus- 

 cicapidce with 12, and the Culumbce with 11 species. Very many 

 other interesting details are also given in this Introduction, 

 which concludes with a carefully compiled Table of the birds of 

 Polynesia generally, including altogether 172 species. 



