236 The Natztralist in La Plata. 



species known. And yet with, the exception of 

 that dry husk of knowledge, concerning size, form 

 and colouration, which classifiers and cataloguers ob- 

 tain from specimens, very little indeed. scarcely any- 

 thing,in fact is known about the Tree-creepers; and 

 it would not be too much to say that there are many 

 comparatively obscure and uninteresting species in 

 Europe, any one of which has a larger literature 

 than the entire Tree-creeper family. No separate 

 work about these birds has seen the light, even in 

 these days of monographs; but the reason of this 

 comparative neglect is not far to seek. In the 

 absence of any knowledge, except of the most frag- 

 mentary kind, of the life-habits of exotic species, the 

 monograph-makers of the Old World naturally take 

 up only the most important groups i.e. the groups 

 which most readily attract the traveller's eye with 

 their gay conspicuous colouring, and which have 

 acquired a wide celebrity. We thus have a suc- 

 cession of splendid and expensive works dealing 

 separately with such groups as woodpeckers, trogons, 

 humming-birds, tanagers, king-fishers, and birds of 

 paradise ; for with these, even if there be nothing 

 to record beyond the usual dreary details and 

 technicalities concerning geographical distribution, 

 variations in size and markings of different species, 

 &c., the little interest of the letter-press is com- 

 pensated for in the accompanying plates, which are 

 now produced on a scale of magnitude, and with so 

 great a degree of perfection, as regards brilliant 

 colouring, spirited attitudes and general fidelity to 

 nature, that leaves little further improvement in this 

 direction to be looked for. The Tree-creepers, being 



