﻿214 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



cessful in collecting them. The earliest account of the 

 birds of New Holland will be found in the voyages of 

 Collins, Phillips, and White. The plates of the two 

 former are plain, but those of the latter are accurately 

 coloured, and the drawings, in general, are very faithful. 

 The volume of White is exceedingly valuable in every 

 way, for it contains no less than twenty- nine plates of 

 birds alone, independent of the quadrupeds, reptiles, and 

 plants. A beautiful work on the zoology of New 

 Holland was commenced by Dr. Shaw, but discon- 

 tinued, for want of public support, after the first num- 

 ber.* Lewin, a zoological artist, settled in the country, 

 published a thin volume, containing twenty^six plates, 

 and descriptions of the native birds, drawn and etched by 

 himself in a free and masterly style ; yet this, too, 

 shared the fate of the attempt made by Dr. Shaw, to the 

 regret of every lover of ' ornithology. The Linnaean So- 

 ciety, with liberality and judgment, purchased a noble 

 collection of the birds of this country, which now 

 grace their museum. After many years, Messrs. Hors- 

 fleld and Vigors undertook to describe them, and the 

 first part of their labours, inserted in the Transactions, 

 are, upon the whole, of considerable value ; but, by the 

 strange fatality which has attended the former attempts, 

 ten years have elapsed without any thing having been 

 done, so far as we can learn, to finish the undertaking : 

 thus, nearly one half of the birds remained unnamed. Our 

 attention has been for many years directed to this object, 

 but so little are our public librarians and bibliopolists, 

 disposed to encourage works of pure science, that, even if 

 other circumstances were favourable, we question whe- 

 ther these materials will ever see the light. In regard 

 to the ornithology of New Guinea, and the Pacific 

 Islands, our information is very scanty, and, with the 

 exception of the magnificent work of Le Vaillant on the 

 Paradise Birds, is almost exclusively derived from the 



8 In this is figured the Columba antarctica, described many years after 

 as a new species by M. Temminck, under the name of Columba dilophus. 

 The latter name, however, is so appropriate that it may be allowed to re- 

 main. 



