PREFACE. 
my own efforts will be amply repaid. Although the work comprises every species known to 
inhabit Australia up to the present time, it is not to be supposed that it contains the whole of 
the birds of that vast country, of which so large a portion is yet a terra incognita. Every new 
district towards the north-west that may be explored will doubtless afford additional species, 
and which may hereafter form the materials for a supplement, 
I originally intended to include the Birds of New Zealand in the present work, but upon 
further investigation of the subject I found that they belong to a distinct Fauna, which fact, 
coupled with the vast accession of new species from the continent of Australia, induced me to 
omit all but those that had been published in the first instance, and one or two others 
remarkable for their great interest. 
Enjoying, by the blessing of Providence, constant good health, and energies as yet 
unimpaired, I propose still to devote my humble efforts to the advancement of Ornithology, 
that science which treats of one of the most pleasing portions of the Almighty's many wonderful 
works; and with ample materials at my command for illustrating the Birds of another magni- 
ficent portion of the domains of the British Crown — India — my next work will probably be on 
" the Birds of Asia," which will, irrespective of all other considerations, be of no little interest 
as forming the connecting link between the Birds of Europe and the Birds of Australia. 
June 12, 1848. 
JOHN GOULD. 
