-%0/3/. 



PREFACE. 



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It fell to my lot, on Mr. Gould's death, to complete the present work together with the 

 others left unfinished at the time of his decease. The Plates for this ^'Supplement" were 

 nearly all drawn during the lifetime of Mr. Gould ; to these I have added certain others as 

 representing species well worthy of illustration, the specimens having been lent to me by 

 Mr. Osbert Salvin. It will be noticed that a large number of species are included in the present 

 " Supplement " without the accompanying plates. Whether it was the intention of Mr. Gould 

 to have enumerated these in the work I know not ; but as he originally meant to complete 

 the " Supplement " in fou7' parts, I fancy that he would only have figured the most striking 

 of the species described since the completion of the ' Monograph.' I have, however, 

 endeavoured to include in this supplementary volume descriptions of all the species of 

 Trochilidge discovered since 1861, when the 'Monograph ' was finished ; and this course will, 

 I trust, commend itself to ornithologists. My thanks are due to Messrs. Sotheran for allowing 

 me thus to render the work as complete as possible, notwithstanding the pecvmiary loss 

 involved by such a proceeding. 



It is scarcely necessary for me to record here my obligations to Mr. Elliot's admirable 

 'Synopsis of the Humming-Birds,' as the pages of this book reveal how much I have been 

 indebted to his volume ; and to Mr. Salvin I owe the deepest acknowledgment, for his 

 advice in planning the present work and for having supervised the proofs of each Part. 



R. BOWDLER SHARPE 



British Museum (Natural History), 



South Kensingtoj^, 



March 1887. 



