214 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



cuts representing the latter,) and will be furnished to sub- 

 scribers for one dollar, payable on delivery. 



5. The work will be published in accordance with a scientific 

 arrangement of the genera and species, and will complete the 

 Ornithology of our country, it is believed, in the most perfect 

 manner. 



The octavo edition of Audubon's Birds began to 

 appear, in parts, late in 1839, and was in press four 

 years. It was illustrated with 500 lithographic plates, 

 which were reduced by John Woodhouse Audubon from 

 his father's old or new originals, with such changes as 

 the breaking up of composite plates and other consid- 

 erations rendered necessary. Many new flowers and 

 trees made their appearance in these plates, and sev- 

 enteen new birds were added to the last volume ; the text 

 was also greatly improved by the process of addition and 

 subtraction, as well as by the correction of many errors 

 which it was then possible to effect: as twelve species 

 were noticed without figures, this brought the total 

 nimiber of American birds finally'' recognized by Audu- 

 bon to 507.* The first considerable list of American 

 birds with any pretense to accuracy appeared in Notes 

 on Virginia, published in 1782, by Thomas Jefferson, 

 who then named 109 species peculiar to the United 

 States; William Bartram, in 1791, gave 191 ; Alexander 

 Wilson, 278; Wilson and Ord, in 1808-14, 320, and 

 Charles Bonaparte, in 1825-33, is said to have extended 



'Of these, according to Mr. Witmer Stone (see Bibliography, No. 221), 

 474 are sanctioned in the present "Check List" of the American 

 Ornithologists' Union; seventeen have proved to be identical with others; 

 ten are extra-limital ; two are hybrids; and five have never been found 

 since; of Audubon's suppressed species, two have been resuscitated. Audu- 

 bon is thought to have been personally acquainted with 385 American 

 species, others being known to him only through specimens sent by col- 

 lectors, or discovered in museums. 



