PREFACE. lX 



to natives. Nothing redounds more to the honour of scientific in- 

 stitutions than to see them superintended by such men, not only 

 great and illustrious by their own discoveries, but despising all those 

 national or petty feelings of jealousy which influence narrow minds. 



To the politeness of M. Isidore Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire I have 

 elsewhere alluded *. Nor must I omit, in this place, to assure my 

 friend M. Lesson of the grateful recollections I shall ever entertain 

 of his kindness, not only during my residence in Paris, but since my 

 return. To him am I indebted, among other interesting birds, for 

 the Eissirostral type of the Motacillinte, which has fully confirmed all 

 I ventured to express at pp. 203 and 230. 



Nor has our own National Museum proved an unproductive field 

 for research. Rich in the Ornithology of the Northern regions, it has 

 furnished much valuable information, and the means of determining 

 several new species. Whatever reasons there might have been for 

 censuring the general management of this institution, they have, we 

 believe, long ceased to exist. The magnificence of the new rooms 

 devoted to Zoology ; the sedulous care bestowed upon every donation ; 

 its immediate accessibility ; but, above all, the free and courteous man- 

 ner in which its treasures are gratuitously opened to the public and 

 to the man of science, demands the highest praise. Let but the 

 Government second the zeal of its officers, and the public lend their 

 aid by the contribution of specimens, and in a few years, the British 

 Museum will reflect honour upon a powerful and wealthy nation. 

 To J. G. Children, Esq., as the Officer more particularly in charge 

 of the Zoological subjects, my thanks are especially due, not merely 

 for the courteous discharge of his official duty, but for all those 

 prompt and nameless facilities which a scientific student stands so 

 much in need of. 



In the Ornithological productions of our Eastern Empire, the 

 Museum of the Honourable East India Company is without parallel. 

 To this also I have had free and unrestrained access ; and this gratifi- 

 cation has been rendered doubly agreeable by the kindness and 



* Zoological Illustrations, new Series, vol. i. pi. 8. 



