On the Oology of Australia, 

 By E. P. RAMSAY, ESQ. 



[Read 5th July, 1865.] 



BEFORE Mr. Gould entered upon his magnificent work, there 

 seems to have been very little done in Australian Ornithology. 



In fact, the subject, although one of the greatest interest, was, 

 as a whole, almost entirely neglected. In Dr. Shaw's " Zoology 

 of New Holland," only a few plates are devoted to the subject, 

 which were taken from specimens in collections made by Sir 

 Joseph Banks, during Captain Cook's first voyage. 



Some figures again have been given in the " early voyages of 

 Phillip, White, Collins, and King ; and Lewin's " Birds of New 

 Holland " contain only about 25 or 30 plates." 



Vigors and Horsfield commenced a work upon the Birds of 

 Australia in the collection of the Linnean Society, the largest 

 collection then existing, but unfortunately they did not proceed 

 beyond the true Honey-eaters. (Meliphagidce.) 



Descriptions of Australian species have also appeared in the 

 works of various authors, such as Cuvier, Latham, Shaw, and 

 Vieillot, but many of these are meagre, and in some instances 

 incorrect. 



Thus, no general or reliable history of this portion of our 

 Fauna had been undertaken before May 1838, when Mr. Gould 

 left England for Australia, there, personally, to investigate the 

 manners and habits of our birds in their native state. And we 

 see with what great success his efforts have been crowned ; 

 exceeding even his own most sanguine expectations, for at the 

 close of his magnificent work, we find that through his instru- 

 mentality, no less than upwards of 360 new species have been 

 discovered and figured, (thereby raising the number to 650 

 species.) 



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