INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 155 



Other of the commonest and most hardy birds : now 

 the Corythaix, in its natural state^ is well known to 

 inhabit the hottest parts of Africa_, and is so litttle 

 adapted to this climate_, that it has never been known to 

 breed ; it consequently requires perpetual warmth, even 

 for the comfortable enjoyment of existence. Can it be 

 wondered at, therefore, that so much mortality takes 

 place in the Society's collection ? and not only in theirs, 

 but in all others ? It may, indeed, be urged, that es- 

 tablishments like those of the Surrey Gardens and the 

 Regent's Park are so much occupied in attending to the 

 general interests of their concerns, that they have 

 neither the time, the funds, nor the assistance to render 

 any one department more efficient than it now is ; more 

 especially as, in addition to the immense and complicated 

 concerns of their gardens, the Zoological Society's mu- 

 seum is now of such magnitude, as almost to require a 

 separate Society to conduct its management, and render 

 it of that effectual service to science, which, under 

 adequate management and an enlarged establishment, it 

 is so well calculated to prove. 



In the following pages we have noticed several of 

 those rasorial birds belonging to the genus Craoc, which, 

 from their affinity to the domestic fowl, might be suc- 

 cessfully introduced into our aviaries, or kept in separate 

 inclosures of the poultry-yard. It does not appear 

 that the Society has yet succeeded in breeding these 

 birds, although their management is so well under- 

 stood in Holland, that they have been reared there 

 with the same ease as common poultry. So much 

 confusion, however, seems to exist among the species 

 of these birds, as they now stand, that, in pointing 

 out such as are likely to succeed in Britain, we have 

 thought it best to adhere to the nomenclature and 

 descriptions of M. Temminck, in whose admirable 

 volumes the reader will find much more respecting 

 them, than we can afford space for in this. The 

 native fowls, with those two most elegant Oriental 

 pheasants, Nycthemerus pictus and Kyc. argentatus 



