INTRODUCTION. 211 



hurriedly made to be quite trustworthy ; and it is 

 probable that in some cases Dr. Brehm did not identify 

 the animals observed correctly, an error which want of 

 specimens prevented him from remedying subsequently. 



I have left to the last all notice of by far the largest 

 and most important contributions to our knowledge of 

 the Abyssinian fauna which have appeared since Eup- 

 pell's time ; those of Hofrath Th. von Heuglin, for many 

 years a resident in the Nile valley, and who has recently 

 explored a large portion of the Abyssinian highlands. 

 His first important paper — a second " Systematische 

 Uebersicht," or Systematic Catalogue of the North-east 

 African Avi-fauna — appeared in the Journal der zoolo- 

 gischen hotanischen Gesellschaft zu Wiev?- for 1856, 

 pp. 255 to 354. In this list 754 species of birds are 

 enumerated as occurring in North-eastern Africa. I 

 cannot help thinking, however, that the publication of 

 this paper is to be regretted. For the writer there is 

 some excuse, as the list was doubtless drawn up with- 

 out sufficient means of reference, but the Society which 

 allowed it to appear in its Journal deserves the repro- 

 bation of every naturalist who does not wish orni- 

 thological nomenclature to become a mass of confusion. 

 Every mistake of Elippell's was repeated, and a very 

 large number of species were named as new without 

 descriptions being furnished. The majority of these 

 supposed species have since been found, by the author 

 himself, to have been proposed in error. Many were 

 only varieties, others had already been described, and 



' Journal of the Zoological and Botanical Society of Vienna. 



p2 



