﻿AZARA. ORNITHOLOGY OP AUSTRALIA. 213 



Paraguay. Considering that this extraordinary man 

 had never studied systematic ornithology (indeed, like 

 Buffon, he affected to despise system), it is surprising 

 to verify the accuracy of his descriptions and measure- 

 ments ; and yet, strange to say, from not having given 

 any Latin names, either generic or specific to his birds, 

 he has been, unintentionally, the cause of introducing 

 into our systems a host of nominal species. This will 

 be understood when it is explained that no less than 

 three systematists have attempted to refer all the birds 

 he has described, without having seen them, to the re- 

 corded genera ; so that the very same species will be 

 found not unfrequently in three different groups to 

 which it has been referred by Sonnini, Vieillot, and 

 Latham, each having no other guide than the original 

 description of Azara, which is often silent upon those 

 very points* upon which correct judgment as to the true 

 genus can be alone formed. We have been assured 

 that Azara transmitted to Europe preserved specimens 

 of every animal he described, and that they still exist 

 in the royal museum of Madrid, u unnoticed and un- 

 known" by all his commentators. We know not a more 

 acceptable service that could be done to science than the 

 personal examination of these specimens by a compe- 

 tent ornithologist, who could at once determine every 

 species, and by referring each to its true genus, place a 

 stamp upon the writings of Azara, which would render 

 his admirable work as standard an authority as that of 

 Wilson, or even of Buffon. Without such information 

 we shall never be able correctly to locate upwards of 

 ,500 species, which Azara has actually described as na- 

 tives of Paraguay ; a country whose political state has 

 prevented^ all our South American zoologists from 

 visiting. 



(178.) The ornithology of Australia, the last zoolo- 

 gical province, includes New Guinea, New Holland, and 

 the Pacific Islands. There exists many valuable materials 

 for this department, but they are widely scattered in 

 detached fragments, and no attempt has yet been suc- 

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