PRELIMINARY NOTICES. 



tains 600 specimens of Mammalia ; 400 specimens of Birds; 

 1000 of Reptiles and Fishes ; 1000 of Tcstacea and Crustacea; 

 and 30,000 Insects. The Gardens were opened to the pub- 

 lic in June 1828, and with the Museum, from that period, 

 in one year, had been visited by 112,226 persons. In the 

 Gardens are between five and six hundred living Quadru- 

 peds and Birds. Among the curious birds are the follow- 

 ing: Curassows, the Guan, the Crowned Crane, Black and 

 White Storks, Spoonbills, Herons and Bitterns, Parrots, 

 Pelicans, Emus, an Ostrich, the Gannet, the Shag ; various 

 species of the Duck tribe ; Tame, Wild, and Black Swans ; 

 various species of the Goose tribe: Gulls ; many varieties 

 of Pigeons and Domestic Fowls; the Condor; the Griffon 

 Vulture; various Eagles ; curious Owls ; numerous species 

 of the Falcon tribe; Pheasants ; Partridges ; and many 

 singing Birds, &c. See the Guide to the Zoological Gardens, 

 drawn up by N. A. Vigors and W. J. Broderip, Esqrs. 



It maybe also useful to state, that, although this Society 

 were reluctantly compelled to postpone the attempt to 

 become more directly and practically useful, by experi- 

 ments in the breeding and domestication of animals, yet 

 that they are, now, about to direct their attention to those 

 important objects. The Regent's Park not being calculated 

 for the purpose, they have engaged a farm, with suitable 

 offices, &c. of about thirty-three acres of land, in a beautiful 

 situation under the wall of Richmond Park, nine miles 

 from Hyde Park Corner. Here it is intended that their 

 experiments for breeding and domesticating animals are to 

 be made. The animals are to include not only Quadru- 

 peds and Birds, but also Fish. 



Besides the work of Wilson on the Birds of America, 

 noticed in page 90, one now in course of publication, in this 

 country, by Mr. Audubon, consisting of Drawings of the 



