XVI 
INTRODUCTION. 
Woodpeckers, a group of birds found in all parts of the world with the exception of Australia and 
Polynesia. 
Such then is a transient view of a few of the great physical features of Australia to which I have thought 
it requisite to allude in the Introduction of the present work, and I cannot conclude this portion of the 
subject without mentioning the very remarkable manner in which many of the Australian Birds represent 
other nearly allied species belonging to the Old World, as if some particular law existed in reference to the 
subject, the species so represented being evidently destined to fulfil the same offices in either hemisphere. 
As instances in point, I may mention among the Falcontd^i: the F. hypoleucus and F. melanogenys, which 
represent the F. Islandicus and F. Peregrinus ; our Merlin and Kestril are equally well represented by the 
Falco frontatus and Tinnuncuius Cenchro'ides of Australia ; the Osprey of Europe also is represented by the 
P. leiicocephala ; among the wading birds, the Curlew and the Whimbrel of Europe are beautifully represented 
by the Ntmenius Australis and A^. uropygialis, and the bar-tailed and black-tailed Godwits by the Limosa 
w'opygialis and L. Melanuroides. Both Europe and Australia have each one Stilted Plover, one Dottrell 
{Eudrom'ias), and one Avocet. Among the water birds the Cormorants and Grebes of Europe are similarly 
represented by the Phalacrocorax Carbdides, &c., and Podiceps Australis, P. Nestor and P.gularis ; and other 
instances might be noticed, but as they will all be found in the body of the work, it will not be necessary 
to recapitulate them here. Although so many curious instances of representation and of nearly allied species 
are found to occur, no country possesses so many genera peculiar to itself as Australia, such as /Egotheles, 
Falcimcuhis , Colhiricinda, Grallina, Gymnorhina, Strepera, Cinclosoma, Menura, Psophodes, Maluriis, Sericornis, 
Ephthianura, Pardalotus, Chlamydera, Ptilonorhynchus, Struthidea, Licmetis, Calyptorhynchus, Platycercus, 
Eiiphema, Nymphicus, Climacteris, Scythrops, Myzcmtha, Tulegalla, Leipoa, Pedionomiis, Cladorhynchm, 
Tribonyx, Cereopsis, Anseranas, and Biziura. 
In a country of such vast extent as Australia, spreading over so many degrees of latitude, we might 
naturally expect to find much diversity in the climate, and such is really the case. Van Diemen's Land, 
from its isolated and more southern position, is cooler and characterized by greater humidity than Australia ; 
its vegetation is therefore abundant, and its forests dense and difficult of access. The climate of the 
continent, on the other hand, between the 25th and 35th degrees of latitude, is much drier, and has a 
temperature which is probably higher than that of any other part of the world ; the thermometer frequently 
rising to 110°, 120°, and even 130° in the shade; and this high temperature is not unfrequently increased 
by the hot winds which sweep over the country from the northward, and which indicate most strongly the 
parched and sterile nature of the interior. UnUke other hot countries, this great heat and dryness is 
unaccompanied by night dews, and the falls of rain being uncertain and irregular, droughts of many months' 
duration sometimes occur, during which the rivers and lagoons are dried up, the land becomes a parched 
waste, vegetation is burnt up, and famine spreads destruction on every side. It is easier for the imagination 
to conceive than the pen to depict the horrors of so dreadful a visitation. The indigenous animals and birds 
retire to the mountains, or to more distant regions exempt from its influence. Thousands of sheep and 
oxen perish, bullocks are seen dead by the road-side or in the dried-up water-holes, to which, in the hope 
of relief, they had dragged themselves, there to fall and die; trees are cut down for the sake of the twigs 
as fodder; the flocks are driven to the mountains in the hope that water may there be found, and every 
effort is made to avert the impending ruin ; but in spite of all that can be done the loss is extreme. At 
