IV PREFACE. 



twenty are represented in these islands, of the 

 forty-nine Families of Birds no fewer than thirty- 

 one possess British representatives. 



The Author has followed in his arrangement 

 and nomenclature, the " Genera of Birds" of 

 Mr. G. R. Gray ; not only on account of the in- 

 trinsic authority of that work, but because it is 

 the system on which the noble collection of Birds 

 in the British Museum is arranged and named. 

 The advantage, presented by this volume and its 

 fellows, of being a Manual to the National Col- 

 lection, will be readily appreciated. 



Besides the carefully executed engravings of 

 every species described in the following pages, 

 many others, illustrating peculiarities of struc- 

 ture, &c., are scattered through the book. 



LONDON, 1849. 



