PREFACE OF THE ENGLISH EDITOR. 



IT was with no litttle satisfaction that I obtained the consent of the Council of the Ray 

 Society to undertake the publication of an English translation of the present work, believing as I 

 do that it is one of the most valuable and suggestive. works on pure Ornithology ever published. 

 Ever since I became acquainted with the important nature of Nitzsch's researches as here given, 

 I have not ceased to wonder that the subject has not been taken up by succeeding Ornithologists. 

 How this may have occurred in England it is not difficult to understand. But that not one of the 

 many German Ornithologists, having this excellent basis to start from, should have continued the 

 investigations of their illustrious compatriot, is indeed surprising. I trust, however, that the 

 republication of Nitzsch's Memoir in its present form may induce some of the many enterprising 

 Naturalists of the present day, either in this country or abroad, to follow up the work, as, until 

 this is fully accomplished, we can never hope to arrive at a correct knowledge of the affinities of 

 this very difficult class of Vertebrates. 



The original edition of Nitzch's Pterylography was edited from the manuscripts of the deceased 

 Naturalist by Dr. Herman Burmeister, his successor in the professorial chair, under circumstances 

 which are fully explained in the second preface. The present translation has been executed for 

 the Ray Society by Mr. W. S. Dallas, F.L.S., whose well-known name is a sufficient guarantee 

 for the general accuracy of the work. A certain number of Germanisms and foreign modes of 

 expression will be found in it ; but these will be readily intelligible, and it has been thought 

 better to make a slight sacrifice of freedom of expression to a faithful rendering of the original 

 text. In one or two instances Nitzsch appears to have used certain terms rather loosely, and 

 there is, of course, a corresponding vagueness in the translation. But it must be recollected 

 that the work was left in MS. by the author himself, and edited by another, who, although one of 

 the most eminent Naturalists of the present day, and in every way highly qualified for the task, 

 may not, perhaps, have thought himself justified in making such alterations as would have been 

 certainly introduced by the Author upon re-perusal of his own work. 



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