PREFACE. 
The addition of one more bulky .volume to the long list which crowds the shelves of our 
Ornithological libiaries, seems to a certain extent to demand an apology; Ornithology has 
shaied in the impetus that Natural science generally has received during the last 
h i of a century, that it is fast establishing for itself a place and position of importance 
among the popular branches of scientific study. The opening out of new fields for research 
has greatly enriched our stock of data, and the knowledge thus acquired of the fauna of the 
distant portions of the globe has occasioned much interesting discussion; the increased 
abilities for intercommunication between civilized countries has tended to systematize the 
o servations of naturalists, and acquaint those of each country with what has been acquired, 
and is being done around them ; the works of many eminent naturalists, and the perfection 
to which natural-history painting has been brought of late years, have drawn a larger share 
o public attention to this engrossing study than had hitherto been accorded to it; and in 
e increased interest thus aroused must lie our excuse for adding a volume to our Zoological 
libraries, already so extensive. 
e mam object of this monograph is to bring together as far as possible, and arrange 
m a convenient form, all the information, published or unpublished, regarding the family of 
the Cqrtmia, which has been acquired by naturalists of all countries up to the present 
date, and, by supplying an accurate coloured figure of each species, to facilitate identification, 
and to reduce to uniformity the accepted specific names in the various countries. The 
attention of several eminent naturalists has from time to time been devoted to the different 
sections of this family ; and we must take this opportunity of acknowledging the assistance 
we have gained from the researches of Messrs. Sclater and Salvin in the American croup of 
Messrs. Jules Verreaux, T. von Heuglin, E. L. Layard, and Dr. Hartlaub in the African 
and of Mr. A. E. Wallace, Mr. Swinhoe, and Drs. Hartlaub and Jerdon in the Asiatic 
group; and then- notes will be found to have been largely quoted. No modem book 
however, has appeared embracing the entire family, except the descriptive catalogue of the 
usee des Pays-bas,” at Leiden, published in 1863 by Messrs. Schlegel and Goffin; this 
a 
