514 novelties: 



in the most prominent manner possible, the name of a dear lost 

 friend, its discoverer. I would fain nope that I may not be 

 mistaken in believing it to be new, and that it may remain 

 for ever, monumentum cere perenius, a humble but lasting 

 tribute to the memory of one so loved, so respected, and, alas, 

 so early lost to science and to us. 



Hereafter it is hoped that this and all the other novelties and 

 rarities amassed by the expedition, the fruits of Dr. Stoliczka's 

 self-devotion in this and other branches of natural history, 

 may be duly figured and given to the world in some form not 

 unworthy of his reputatiou. 



In the meantime it is necessary to publish at once brief descrip- 

 tions, so as to secure for him, if it really be his, priority as dis- 

 coverer. Other expeditions have recently traversed neighbouring 

 and somewhat similar tracts, and I do not, therefore, think it 

 right to delay the publication of those species which I believe to 

 be new, even though I should, in some cases, prove hereafter 

 to be mistaken as to their being still undescribed. 



There is, I know, a Russian work* which may possibly 

 contain some of these species ; and if this should be so, I must 

 crave forgiveness, since, though long ago ordered, I have failed 

 to obtain a copy; and if I hesitate any longer to describe these, 

 which I believe to be new forms, some one else may take the 

 initiative, and thus disconnect Dr. Stoliczka's name from a 

 part, at any rate, of the good work which he sacrificed his life 

 to perform. 



It may not unnaturally be asked why I of all persons have 

 taken upon myself to publish these species, imperfect as my 

 knowledge is of the Avifauna to which they pertain. The fact 

 simply is, that in almost the last letter which Stoliczka wrote 

 to Sir Douglas Forsyth, he sketched out in some detail the 

 manner in which, on his arrival in India, he wished the scientific 

 results of the expedition to be worked out, and in this he 

 indicated me by name as the person whom he wished to asso- 

 ciate with himself in the ornithological section of the work, and 

 he had already, in private letters, warned me that there would 

 be more work than he could do, and that I must undertake the 

 birds. 



Under these circumstances, fully admitting the mediocrity 

 of the qualifications I bring to the task, I yet feel that in 

 undertaking it I am only fulfilling his latest and repeatedly 

 expressed wishes. 



* Severtzoff, Tuikest. Jevotn. (1873.) See also an article in Cabanis' 

 J. fur. O., 1873, p. 322. 



