PREFACE. V 



Appendix, amounts to 1626. Jerdon, from a much smaller 

 area, described 1016. Hume's Catalogue of 1879 contained 

 1788 entries, of which he rejected 106 and regarded 74 as 

 doubtful, leaving 1608, or nearly the same as the present 

 enumeration. The precise number of species is naturally 

 dependent on a personal factor, some writers being more 

 liberal than others in admitting the claims to specific rank 

 of races which are distinguished by small differences of 

 plumage or measurement, or which are connected by inter- 

 vening links with the typical form. Such races or sub- 

 species, as they are called, have not, as a rule, been separately 

 numbered and described in the present work, but they have 

 received due notice and their characters have been explained. 



A very considerable part of the present work is founded 

 on the Catalogue of Birds in the British Museum, and on 

 the specimens preserved in the Museum Collections. It is 

 difficult to exaggerate the obligations of both Mr. Gates 

 and myself to Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe and Mr. W. Ogilvie 

 Grant, the officers in charge of the Bird Department. In 

 several cases the labour of compiling this and other volumes 

 has been lightened by access to unpublished parts of the 

 Museum Catalogue. 



Prof. Newton's most useful ' Dictionary of Birds ' has 

 often furnished valuable information, and has occasionally 

 prevented mistakes from being made; whiUt for anatomical 

 information I am greatly indebted to Dr. H. Gadow's con- 

 tributions to the Dictionary and to his share of Bronn's great 

 work. Some important details have also been personally 

 communicated by Dr. Gadow and Mr. Beddard. 



In addition to the many friends in India who have 

 contributed to the previous volumes, thanks are due to 

 Mr. F. Finn and Mr. A. L. Butler, both of whom have sent 

 valuable notes. In this volume, as in the last, Mr. Oates's 

 notes have been of great service, and he has added important 

 information on some of the Birds of Upper Burma. 



