211 
ORNITHOLOGY OP TROPICAL AMERICA. 
genera to which his supposed new species reaUy belong, 
either by his descriptions or his figures, beautifully de- 
signed as the latter unquestionably are : in this latter 
respect, they will always be valuable as models of omitho- 
logicalforms. Materialstowards the ornithology of Mexico 
will be found in the description or enumeration of many 
new birds of that country inserted by us in the Vluh- 
sophical Magazine and in Murray s Eneychpcedia of 
Geoqraphu; but much more remains for future dis- 
covery. The birds of the West Indies, by some strange 
fatahty, are as little known now as they were m the 
time of Sir Hans Sloane, and we have no accounts what- 
ever of the ornithology of that part of tropical America 
laying between Guitamala and Cayenne, including the 
whole of Columbia ; for the few species known to inhabit 
these countries are mixed up in our general works. Ue- 
merara, equaUy remarkable for the variety and beauty ot 
its feathered inhabitants, has been often visited by ama- 
teurs, whose sole object seems to have been that ol pro- 
curing perfect skins: as to the habits of the birds them- 
selves, their structure, or their classic names, we know 
almost as little about them as if they never existed. 
This lamentable oversight in neglecting all that can be 
truly beneficial to science, we may confidently hope 
wiU be remedied, as far as concerns Demerara, by tlie 
exertions of an enterprising and scientific zoologist. 
M. Schombergh, who is now conducting the expeilition 
into the interior of that little-known region, set on foot 
by the Iloyal Geographic Society, and who, with his 
assistants, intends to devote great attention to the orni- 
thology of those inland tracts the expedition may ex- 
plore. Among the numerous and important labours of 
Le Vailliant must be mentioned his monograph of tic 
Ampelidcc, or typical fruit-eaters, a most splendid group 
of birds, peculiar to tropical America, and whose man- 
ners are recorded from his personal observation. ro- 
his Saffio di nna Jiisiribuzionc Metliodicn del’ll Antnitile ^‘T^nomendatuVe^ 
in 1831 , the learned and noble author casU a.nde "a ’ 
■which M. Autiubuu has taken up, anti adopts all the mod g 
p 2 
