Among the perching birds there is a great excess of the I n s e c t iVo r/e— Podargi, Meliphagidce, Maluridce,
Gymnorhince, Sec., of the G r a n iv o r ie , such as various species of the Fringillidce, and of the Psittacidce. The
latter tribe of birds is more numerous in Australia than in any other part of the world, and forms four great
groups, viz. the Calyptorhynchi, which mainly procure their food from the Banksice, Casuarince, and Eucalypti;
the Cucatuce, which feed upon the terrestrial Orchidece, Scc .; the Trichoglossi, which subsist upon the nectar
they extract from the flower-cups and blossoms of the Eucalypti; and the ground and grass Parrakeets;
which feed almost exclusively on the seeds of the various grasses that abound on the plains; the united
groups amounting to nearly sixty species.
Of the Rasorial forms,—while the Pigeons and Hemipodes are numerous, the larger and typical
Gallinace3j are entirely wanting ; their only representatives being a few species of Coturnicc and Synoicus*
The Grallatorial birds are about equal in number, to those of other countries; and among the water
birds the true Ducks are but few, while the Procellaridce which visit the coast are more abundant than
in any other part of the world. On a retrospect of the whole we find a greater number of nocturnal
birds than is comprised in the ornithology of any other section of the globe. I must not omit to mention
too the extraordinary fecundity which prevails in Australia, many of its smaller birds breeding three or four
times in a season; but laying fewer eggs in the early spring when insect life is less developed, and a greater
number later in the season when the supply of insect food has become more abundant. I have also some
reason to believe that the young of many species breed during the first season, for among others I frequently
found one section of the Honey-eaters (the Melithrepti) sitting upon eggs while still clothed in the brown
dress of immaturity; and we know that such is the case with the introduced Gaxjunage^, three or four
generations of which have been often produced in the course of a year.
Another peculiar feature connected with the Australian ornithology is that of its comprising several
forms endowed with the power of sustaining and enjoying life without a supply of water, that element
without which most others languish and die; for instance, the Halcyons, which I found living and even
breeding on the parched plains of the interior during the severe drought of 1838-39, far removed from any
water; the food of these birds being insects and lizards.,
A considerable number of the older-known of the Australian birds have been described in the general
works of Vieillot, Latham, Shaw and others; but their descriptions are so vague, and the' species; themselves
so frequently referred to genera widely different from those to which they really belong, that it has
been impossible to identify the whole of them ; but wherever they could be identified with certainty their
names have been adopted, or quoted in the synonyms.
The “ Birds of Europe” were arranged according to the views of the late Mr. Vigors; and fu the
“ Birds of Australia” the arrangement is mainly the same, with some modifications; of my own which
appeared to me to be necessary.
I have been constrained, for the sake of uniformity in size, to divide the present work into seven
volumes; the first of which comprises the R a p t o r e s , the small number of which will account for its being
somewhat thinner than the others ; the second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth volumes comprise the
I n s e s s o r e s , R a so r e s and G r a l l a t o r e s in one continuous series, and the seventh the N a t a t o r e s .
The following synoptical table will give a general view of the whole ; it contains all the additional
information I have received, or been able to procure, during the progress of the work ; the characters of
the new genera I have found it necessary to institute, &c. ; and the references to the volumes in which the7
respective plates are arranged will render it easy to consult and to quote them.
Order RAPTORES, 111.
Family FALCONIDÆ, Leach.
Genus A q u ila, Briss.
Numerous species of this genus exist in Asia and Europe; the form also occurs in Africa, and in North
America; so far as I am aware it is not found in South America, and two species are alL that are known in
Australia.
1. Aquila fucosa, G u v . Vol. I. PI. 1.
Vultur audax, Lath. Ind. Om. Supp., p. ii,
Aquila cmeicaudata, Brehm, Isis, 1845, p. 356.
( Uroaetus) audax, Kaup, Classif. der Sang, und Vog., p. 12.
This fine Eagle ranges over the whole of the southern portion of Australia and Van Diemen’s Land, but I have
no positive evidence of its having been seen in the intertropical regions of the country.
2. Aquila Morphnoides, G o u l d ........................................................................................................... Vol. I. PI. 2.
A beautiful representative of the Aquila pennata of Europe and India. Since the discovery of this bird at
Yarrundi in New South Wales, when I obtained only a single specimen, T. C. Eyton, Esq. has received a second
example in a collection obtained at Port Phillip, and a third was procured by Captain Sturt at the Dépôt in South
Australia.
Genus Ichthyiaëtus, Lafr.
The members of this genus inhabit India and the whole of the Indian Islands, and enjoy an equally extensive
range over the continent of Africa. Their natural abode is the margins of large rivers and inlets of the sea ; and
their chief food consists of fish, dead cetacea and carrion.
3. Ichthyiaëtus leucogaster . . . • ........................................................................................Vol. I, PI. 3.
Haliaétus ( Pontodctus) leucogaster, Kaup, Classif. der Saug. und Vog., p. 122.
Cmcurna leucogaster, List of Birds in Brit. Mus. Coll., Part I. 2nd edit. p. 24.
Found all round the coast of Australia, and said to extend its range to India and even to Africa ; but this wants
confirmation.
An opinion has been lately expressed that the enormous nests observed by Captains Cook and Flinders had been
constructed by some species of Dinornis ; but it is quite evident from the account given by Flinders that they must
have been formed by a bird of the Raptorial order, and I have no doubt that they were the nests of the present bird.
“ Near Point Possession,” says Flinders, “ were found two nests of extraordinary magnitude. They were built
upon the ground, from which they rose above two feet ; and were of vast circumference and great interior capacity,
the branches of trees and other matter, of which each nest was composed, being enough to fill a small cart.
Captain Cook found one of these enormous nests upon Eagle Island, on the east coast.” Subsequently Flinders
found another of these nests in which were “ several masses resembling those which contain the hair and bones of
mice, and are disgorged by the Owls in-England after the flesh is digested. These masses were larger, and consisted
of the hair of seals and of land animals, of the scaly feathers of penguins, and the bones of birds and small
quadrupeds. Possibly the constructor of the nest might be an enormous Owl ; and if so, the cause of the bird bein°-
never seen, whilst the nests were not scarce, would be from its not going out until dark ; but from the very open and