PREFACE. 



IN the following pages I have endeavored to describe 

 the incidents of a trip to those comparatively little-known 

 islands, the MAGDALENS, with a view to the study of their 

 Ornithology. 



I have often thought that if collectors would give a 

 summary of the results of their expeditions, naturalists 

 would soon be able to estimate the geographical range of 

 many species which at present we know very little about. 



In Part Second I have given a list of the species, with 

 notes, that were taken or observed. 



Several of the specimens differed in a marked manner 

 from their usual coloration ; but while giving the points 

 of .difference in the notes regarding them, I have felt that 

 it would be too great a risk to describe them as varieties, 

 as of late years more than half of the " new birds " have 

 hardly received their names before they have sunk into 

 synonymes, thus greatly impeding science. 



P346005 



