VIII. 



tions, was done on stone principally by myself, the remaining portions of the work being from the pencil of 

 Mr. H. G. Eaton, and nearly all are faithful copies from my original drawings. I then made an appeal to the 

 Government for some assistance to enable me to complete this truly colonial work, but, although I offered a 

 handsome inducement,* I was unable to prevail upon the Government to afford me the necessary help, or to 

 render me the material aid I required. A similar appeal to the Board of Education met with no better fate, 

 and thus closed the last chance of my work being successfully terminated. 



I am now content to style it " A Synopsis of the Ornithology of Australia ; or, Companion to Gould's 

 Letterpress Handbook," which, in my opinion, is in great want of illustrations in order to be properly under- 

 stood by those who have not means of access to that author's great work on " The Birds of Australia." 



Giving, as it does, an assortment of the whole— or, more precisely, of about one-third of the avi-fauna 

 of Australia,— any one possessing " Gould's Handbook " (published in two volumes), will have material in his 

 possession to guide him in the discovery of any bird therein described. In the index will be found, with rare 

 exceptions, the names used in the folio volumes of Gould, which are also carefully preserved in his Handbook ; 

 and I deem it very inadvisable at present to make such changes in the nomenclature as appear in both the 

 Handbook and the Sydney Museum Catalogues. 



The old names, as given by Gould on his folio plates, can never lead to confusion, and will always be 

 quoted as synonyms by naturalists. 



A few recently discovered birds will not be found in the Handbook (which was published after I had 

 commenced this work), but such will be found, accurately described, in the short letterpress description appended 

 to every plate in this Synopsis. 



No index has hitherto appeared to this book, such being a matter almost impossible before it -^as 

 finished ; but now that the work is as complete as it probably ever will be, the birds figured are alone cata- 

 logued, and those required to be known must be sought for in " Gould's Handbook." 



My original drawings are contained in four volumes, and are the " Ornithology " as it 

 should have appeared. Scarcely a dozen birds published in Gould's splendid volumes being wanting, and many 

 new birds (about twenty-five in number) have been named and added thereto by myself. 



To those gentlemen who have rendered me their assistance by the loan of specimens, or information, I 

 hereby tender my best thanks. Among whom I may 'mention — besides those noticed in the original Prospectus 

 — Mr. Cockerell, of Brisbane, whose large and valuable collection was of the greatest service, and was the 

 means of furnishing me with a number of new and interesting species ; Mr. White, of Keed Beds, near Ade- 

 laide, S.A. ; Mr. Waterhouse, of the South Australian Museum ; the late Mr. Stapleton, of the Northern 

 Territory, S.A. ; the late Mr Rawnsley, who kindly lent the unique specimen of his bower bird, which I felt 

 justified in naming after him ; Messrs. KrefFt, Masters, Bamsay, Gulliver, &c. 



My Subscribers will find twenty or more of the sea birds not represented by a single example, as such 

 cannot, in my opinion, be ranked as Australian species, being merely passing visitants met with by accident. 

 The twenty-four birds, described in the latter part of the second volume of " Gould's Handbook," not being 

 Australian, are in no instance represented, but are of great interest to students of natural history, preserving as 



* This consisted of an offer to provide the public schools of Queensland with a series of uncolored object lessons of the various plates 

 which, from tiuie to time, should be issued until the work was completed, these plates to be drawn on stone, by myself, at the Government Litho- 

 graphic Office, and accompanied with a letterpress description, for the use of the teachers, also written by myself. This offer the Govern- 

 ment thought proper to decline, alleging as a reason that uncolored prints would be unsuitable for use in its schools, ignoring the well-known 

 fact that most of the great illustrated publications in the world are issued with uncolored plates. Apart from this, also, the coloring con- 

 stituted the chief expense, the skilled labor necessary being almost unattainable,— a fact the Government was, doubtlesl, perfectlv aware of. 



