X 
PREFACE. 
ment of the "Birds of Australia;" neither is the kindness of His Highness the Prince of Canino, 
Sir Wm. Jardine, Bart., Robert Brown, Professor Owen, H. E. Strickland, W. Yarrell, 
T. C. Eyton, J. J. Bennett, D. W. Mitchell, and E. Blyth, Esqs., forgotten by one whom they 
have ever been sedulous to obhge. My thanks are also due to the Trustees, to J. E. Gray, 
and G. R. Gray, Esqs., of the British Museum ; and to the authorities of the Linnean and 
Zoological Societies of London, the Royal Museums of Berlin, Leyden and Paris, and the 
Museum at Sydney. I am also considerably indebted to my friend W, C. L. Martin, Esq., 
author of many valuable works and papers on natural history, for the readiness with which his 
varied literary attainments and critical acumen have at all times been rendered, whenever 
solicited, to enhance the accuracy of my labours. 
At the conclusion of my "Birds of Europe," I had the pleasing duty of stating that 
nearly the whole of the Plates had been lithographed by my amiable wife. Would that I had 
the happiness of recording a similar statement with regard to the present work; but such, alas ! 
is not the case, it having pleased the All-wise Disposer of Events to remove her from this 
sublunary world within one short year after our return from Australia, during her sojourn in 
which country an immense mass of drawings, both ornithological and botanical, were made by 
her inimitable hand and pencil, and which has enabled Mr. H. C. Richter, to whom, after her 
lamented death, the execution of the Plates was entrusted, to perform his task in a manner 
highly satisfactory to myself, and I trust equally so to the Subscribers. The colouring, as in 
the case of the " Birds of Europe," and my other works, has been entirely executed by 
Mr. Bayfield, to whose unwearied exertions and punctuality I must not fail to bear testimony, 
as well as to the minute accuracy with which his labours have been performed. The printing 
of the Plates, by Messrs. Hullmandel and Walton, and the letter-press, by Messrs. R. and J. E. 
Taylor, has also been equally satisfactory. 
And I cannot refrain from speaking in the highest terms of my assistant, Mr. Edwin C. 
Prince, who has been with me from the commencement of my various works. I left him in 
charge of the whole of my affairs during my absence from England, with a perfect conviction 
that he would zealously exert himself for my interest, and the confidence I reposed in him has 
been fully realized, not only during my absence, but during the long period of eighteen years. 
It was my most anxious wish that the unique and perfect collection of Australian Birds, 
