INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 151 



and the country they inhabit ; and had they been more 

 prominently noticed in this selection, our descriptions 

 would have assumed all the technicality of a scientific 

 treatise, instead of detached pieces of ornithological 

 biography. To those, however, who desire a short 

 compendium upon the parrots alone, the interesting 

 volume by Mr. Selby*, on this family, is the best they 

 can procure. 



Nearly the whole of the rasorial birds are well known 

 to be eminently capable of domestication ; and we should 

 feel regret at our limits not allowing us to treat of them 

 in more detail, but that a small volume upon this 

 order t has already appeared, which will in a great 

 measure supply the deficiencies of this : it will also put 

 the reader in possession of a number of coloured figures 

 of the principal species, which could not be here intro- 

 duced under any circumstances. With the exception of 

 S3me few groups, such as the true grouse, the sand 

 grouse, the bustards, and a very few others of minor 

 note, the whole of the Rasores may be considered as 

 adapted to our menageries ; while those which, in their 

 own circles, are also rasorial types, Uve and propagate 

 almost as well as in a state of nature. To have intro- 

 duced all these, however, into our present list, (such as 

 the genus Phasianus, Numida, Gallus, &c.) would have 

 been quite impossible, seeing that they would almost fill 

 an entire volume. 



According to a list just published by the Zoological 

 Society, as a guide to their menagerie, the following 

 species appear now to be in their possession in a hving 

 state : — 



Phasianus colchicus Linn. Common Pheasant," 



torquatus Tern. Chinese ring-necked ditto. 



Nycthcmerus pictus Sw. Gold Pheasant. 



argentatus Sw. Silver ditto. 



Phasianus Reevesii Hardw. Reeves's ditto. 



pectoralis Purple-breasted ditto. 



Ceriornis Temminckii Sw. Temminck^s Satyr. 



* Naturalist's Libraryj vol. xv. f Ibid. vol. v.3 



L 4 



