PREFACE. 
IF, in spite of the hackneyed adage, " Qu> s'excuse, s'accuse," I am about to meet trouble half- 
way by making excuses before criticism has condemned me, it is because I feel public opinion to 
be more indulgent than conscience. The work I am offering to the public, I know to have faults — some 
positively unavoidable, others which might perhaps have been avoided, and a few debatable points. 
The revival of the old-fashioned manner of classifying the species from the lowest to the highest in 
each family, instead of adopting the more modern system, may be found fault with by scientific men, 
although the objection to the arrangement I have adopted, will have no sounder basis than custom. 
Savants will also, perhaps, find here and there a scale too many or one too few on a bird's foot. 
But as I do not claim to have produced a work to instruct those who are already well informed, but 
rather to convey information to the millions, who regard a bird as an object to be shot at when seen, 
I thought it would be more conducive to the attainment of this end to reproduce the birds 
from an ordinary observer's point of view, and to classify in the order of progressive development, i.e., 
from the rudimentary to the perfect, rather than study the minutiae of skeleton structure demanded 
by the purely scientific. Moreover, the ornithology of Australia has had many eminent and devoted 
expounders, who have immortalised themselves in the field of science. The names of Jardine, Gray 
Latham, Selby, Bonaparte, Vigors, Horsfeldt, Cabanis, Bennett, Gould, Ramsay, Gilbert, Macgillivray 
and others will always be remembered with honour. But notwithstanding the labours of these eminent men, 
" The Birds of Australia " remain a sealed book to the masses. Science has discovered and classified 
existing species, and perpetuated their remains in museums, but has failed to hold the exterminating 
hand of the vandal. 
If, then, my humble efforts can be made to reach the young, the thoughtless; and the wanton 
destroyers, teaching them the utility, the intelligence, and the helpless indefensibility of our beautiful 
birds, and thereby assist in their preservation. I shall be content. 
I should be guilty of unfairness were I to allow my readers to suppose that all the merit 
if I may use such a term) of producing this work belongs to me. Indeed, I very much doubt whether 
it would ever have been accomplished had it not been for the aid rendered by many unselfish 
and kind-hearted people all over the Australian Colonies, who generously presented me with specimens 
and afforded valuable information without stint. The works of the eminent men enumerated above have 
also been a source of invaluable assistance, which I acknowledge with deep gratitude. 
There have also been many manipulative helpers — some indifferent and many very good, but 
nearly all willing to do their best. Prominent among the latter is the firm of Messrs. S. T. Leigh & Co., 
the well-known lithographers of Sydney, who have allowed nothing to stand in the way of making the 
work as good as possible. 
The greatest credit, however, is due to the public-spirited enterprise of the veteran Australian 
publishers, Messrs. Charles Stuart & Co., who, undeterred by the very large outlay of money that 
would be entailed, and the foreseen difficulties to be combated in the production of a work of this 
kind in the Colonies, bravely undertook the publication of " The Birds of Australia." How far their 
patriotic efforts may be entitled to public recognition, must be left to be determined by the public. 
And last, but not least, I have to express my gratitude for the zealous assistance rendered me 
by my amiable wife, who for years not only superintended the staff of colourists — -in itself a hard task- 
but laboured with a devotion worthy of a much greater cause than this modest work of the 
AUTHOR. 
