Il8 TlMEHRI. 
In Sharpe's " Catalogue of the Accipitrine or Diurnal 
Birds of Prey in the British Museum," detailed descrip- 
tions of all the species that occur in the colony will be 
found, but, in very many cases, the birds are not men- 
tioned as having been taken in British Guiana ; while 
the generic and specific diagnoses are couched in such 
language as only to be understood by the trained ornitho- 
logist, and not by the general reader of Natural History 
who may wish to obtain some idea of this group of birds. 
The present paper is intended to supply the place of a 
handbook in which popular but sufficiently detailed des- 
criptions of our birds are given for the recognition of the 
species met with, together with notes on their distribu- 
tion and their habits, where these have been observed. 
Here a wide field of research lies open to those residents 
in the country districts, who would observe and study the 
habits and characteristics of these birds, for there are very 
many species about which little or nothing is known. 
Owing to the enormous abundance of food of all kinds, 
and to the immense uninhabited tracks of forest and 
savannah lands, furnishing splendid shelter and breeding 
haunts, in all parts of the colony, these birds have multi- 
plied to a remarkable extent, the species being not only 
distributed all over the colony, but represented by hosts 
of individuals to be met with in all directions. It is 
along the coast districts generally, however, and more 
especially along the tidal parts of the larger creeks that 
these birds are seen in greatest profusion and variety — 
though there are a few larger species, such as the crowned 
eagle (Spizsetus), the crested eagle (Morphnus), the harpy 
(Thrasastus) etc., that are met with only in the higher 
parts of the rivers, in the dense recesses of the forest or 
