xxvi INTRODUCTION- 



unpublished, or that may in the mean time be discovered, of the 

 Laud Birds. As I cannot, in the fourth volume, proportion 

 the plates in the same manner as in the other three, the number 

 of large drawings will be much greater in it : but the numbers 

 will still consist of five plates, and I trust my patrons will find the 

 same careful delineation as before, with more perfect engraving 

 and colouring. These last numbers will of course be much more 

 expensive to me than those in which three of the plates were 

 small. The fourth volume will conclude with representations of 

 the eggs of the different species. 



You have perhaps observed, or if not, I may be allowed to 

 tell you, that in the first volume of my Illustrations, in which 

 there are 100 plates, 240 figures of birds are given ; and that in 

 the second, consisting of the same number of plates, there are 

 244 figures. The number of species not described by Wil- 

 son, are, in the first volume twenty-one, and in the second 

 twenty-four. 



Having had but one object in view since I became acquaint- 

 ed with my zealous ornithological friend, the Prince of Musig- 

 nano, I have spared no time, no labour, no expense, in endeavour- 

 ing to render my work as perfect as it was possible for me and 

 my family to make it. We have all laboured at it, and every 

 other occupation has been laid aside, that we might present in 

 the best form the Birds of America, to the generous individuals 

 who have placed their names on my subscription list. I shall 

 rejoice if I have in any degree advanced the knowledge of so 

 delightful a study as that which has occupied the greater part 

 of my life. 



I have spoken to you, kind reader, more than once of my 

 family. Allow me to introduce them : — my eldest son Victor 



