VI. 



Having thus far noted the birds principally in Vol. I., I shall now make a rapid review of the contents 

 of Vol. II. It will be perceived that the families are larger and less numerous than in the former volume. 

 The large families of the Cockatoos and Parrots are the distinguishing feature of the avi-fauna of Australia, 

 and are more than sixty in number of species. Many of these will be found in the present work. The great 

 families are principally those of Cacatna^ or White Cockatoos ; Calyptorhynchus, or Black ditto ; the Parrakeets, 

 and the Lorrikeets, many being exclusively arboreal, and others frequenting the ground. In color they can be 

 compared to the Fsittacidce of any country. A great many feed upon the honey which they lick out of the 

 blossoms of flowering trees with their hairy tongues, and are named Trichoglossi from possessing that wonderful 

 appendage. Others, as the Flatycerci, &c., feed upon seeds and grain ; and the larger White Cockatoos are 

 very destructive to the farmer whose crops are visited by large flocks to feed. Others, as the Black Cockatoos, 

 are not confined to vegetable diet alone, but excavate holes in the Eucalypti and other trees to obtain the 

 caterpillars or grubs which feed in the interior of the branches. The Ausil'alian pigeons are about twenty-four 

 in number ; and many of them are of great beauty, both of form and plumage. The celebrated Wonga Wonga 

 and the Bronze Wing will readily occur to all ; and the little Top-knot Pigeons are models of loveliness and 

 innocence. The gallinaceous birds do not exist with us, but may be considered as represented by the mound- 

 building birds, Tallegalla, Leipoay and Megapodius, No true Partridge exists ; and the Quails are represented 

 by fourteen species of various genera. The Cassowary and Emu come next, and, in course of time, like the 

 Dinornis of New Zealand, doubtless will become extinct. The former will be found in its appropriate place in 

 this work. The latter, I regret to say, is not figured. The wading birds. Ducks, &c., are also duly recorded. 

 The sea birds alone are poorly illustrated. 



