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thirty-eight species*. This, I believe, is the only attempt that has 
been yet made to throw light upon the peculiar ornithology of that 
country, otherwise than by describing such species as were unpro- 
vided with names. 
I have from time te time had the pleasure of bringing before this 
Society Bogota birds which seemed to have escaped the notice of 
previous writers on the subject, and have characterized a few others 
in the ‘Annals of Natural History’ and the ‘ Revue et Magasin de 
Zoologie.’ Most of my materials have been derived from a fine 
series of birds from that locality possessed by the British Museum 
(which Mr. George Gray’s kindness has afforded me every oppor- 
tunity of investigating), or from the collections received by the 
Jardin des Plantes at Paris, in examining which I have met with 
great courtesy from the directors of that establishment. I have 
always noted down the species I have thus observed, whether new 
or previously known, from Bogota, and by adding to them the birds 
described by the several authors before mentioned as coming direct 
from that country, and others, of which I have specimens in my 
own collection, have formed a list of 435 species belonging to this 
peculiar Fauna. I have myself examined in one place or another 
examples of nearly the whole of these 435 species, and have the 
greatest confidence that I am not in error in including any of them 
in my list. Where I rely upon another writer for the locality, I have 
invariably given a reference to my authority. 
This list, though large, is, I must own, very incomplete, nearly the 
whole being made up of Passeres and Scansores. I know as yet 
very little of the Accipitres, or the Galline, Gralle and Anseres of 
this fauna, or, indeed, of many individual families of the two first- 
mentioned orders. Were the catalogue perfect or nearly so, the 
number contained would be much greater, amounting, I should say, 
to upwards of 700 at least. My object in promulgating it thus crude 
is to start a foundation upon which a more perfect work may be 
established. 
Bogota skins are easily recognized by persons who have had any 
experience in such matters from their peculiar preparation, the 
wings and tail being squeezed up into the body and the whole skin 
pressed together in a manner which gives them a very different 
appearance from birds brought from any other country. I believe 
that they are collected by the native Indian hunters in the forests of 
the New Grenadian Andes, and brought in to the capital to be 
disposed of to the persons who transmit them to Europe. It is 
stated (and I think Mr. Mark, our Vice-Consul at Bogota, is my au- 
thority on this point) that the birds arein no case brought from any 
very great distance in the surrounding country, perhaps never from 
farther than a circuit of 100 miles around the city. If this is really 
the case, or even if they are brought from double or treble that 
distance, the number of different species occurring within so limited 
a range would appear truly marvellous. No doubt this may be 
* See Atti della sesta Riunione degli Scienziati Italiani tenuta in Milano, p. 404. 
