i„ 1849. appeared Mr. BljtV. ■ Catalogue of the Birds in the Museum of the Asiatic Society,' wherein were
incorporated the results of all his previous labours, as well as those of Jerdou. Another writer, Lord
Arthur Hay, in future to be better known to the scientific world after his accession to the titles of Viscount
Walden and Marquis of Tweaddale, had also written one or two small papers on Indian Birds; and Mr. Gould
had himself published his illustrated folio work entitled “ A Century of Birds from the Himalaya
Mountains.” A great change, however, had taken place in our knowledge of Himalayan birds since the day
when it was considered of importance to figure one hundred species from this part of India. This was due
,o the exertions' of Mr. B. H. Hodgson, the British Resident in Nepal, who as early as the year 1836
commenced to publish papers in which he introduced to the notice of naturalists some animals of the
greatest interest from the hill regions of Nepal. His enormous collections were presented by him to the
British Museum in 1843 and 1845, together with a complete set of native drawings, which are remarkable for
their accuracy and give many details of the anatomy of the species figured. In 1844 Mr. Hodgson
gave a complete catalogue of the Birds of Nepal in Gray's -Zoological Miscellany,'founded on the abovenamed
drawings and his own ample collections. In 1849 he again presented the British Museum with a
collection of animals, and gave largely to the museums of other countries also, Blyth's -Catalogue'
testifying to his munificence as regards Calcutta. On his return to India his subsequent collections were
given to the Indian Museum at Fife House • hut after the closing of that establishment he again presented a
large number of specimens to the British Museum, in 1859. Two lists of Mr. Hodgson's donations have
been published by the Trustees of the last-named institution-one in 1846, and another in 1863.
In commencing to write the -Birds of Asia,’ Mr. Gould followed the majority of naturalists in
treating the continent according to its political boundaries. In those days it must be remembered that
Dr. Sclater had not revolutionized the study of ornithology by his division of the earth into natural
zoo-geographical regions, nor had Mr. Wallace arisen to point out to us the demarcation between the Indo-
Malayan and Austro-Malayan subregions, while the existence of a Mediterraueo-Persic subregion had not
been forced upon the attention of ornithologists. We have not space here to discuss in detail the zoo-
geographical divisions of the continent of Asia; hut the natural divisions into which it is partitioned
may be studied to advantage in two works-Mr. Wallace's - Geographical Distribution of Animals,' and
Captain Elwes's paper entitled - On the Geographical Distribution of Asiatic Birds,” published in the
-Proceedings of the Zoological Society’ for 1873.
It will therefore be understood that, when the late Mr. Gould commenced his work, the area winch
he intended to embrace was a very large one; and it is not surprising that thirty-three years should have
been insufficient to complete less than a quarter of the undertaking. Species from Palestine to the westward,
and from the Moluccas to the east, have been figured in the ‘ Birds of As i aand it is equally certain
that a larger number of new species have been discovered by ornithologists in the course of a year
than were figured by Mr. Gould in the single part of the I Birds of Asia’ which he issued annually.
It may not be uninteresting, however, to glance rapidly over the countries included in Asia by the
author of the present work, and to estimate the increase of knowledge which has taken place since
he commenced bis gigantic task. Of the ornithology of Siberia but little was known up to the year
1850; beyond the writings of the old Russian travellers Pallas and Gmelin. Since the above-mentioned
date, the explorations of Middendorif, of Schrenck, and Radde have greatly increased our knowledge, while
the travels of Dr. Finsch on the river Ob added many interesting particulars respecting that region.
One of the most important expeditions, however, to this portion of northern Asia, was that undertaken
by our countryman Mr. Henry Seebohm, -who in 1877 visited the valley of the Yen-e-say, discovered
the hreeding-places of many birds (unknowu up to that date), and brought back large collections of
animals from that little-known portion of the globe. His experiences and adventures are related in
his work ‘ Siberia in Asia,’ one of the most entertaining books of travel which it has ever been our
lot to peruse. Central Asia remained for a long time a terra incognita to the naturalist; but about
the year 1872 Dr. Severtzoff commenced to publish the results of his journeys through Turkestan,
while at the same time the mission to Yarkand despatched by our government, under the leadership
of Sir Douglas Forsyth, was also successful fr om an ornithological point of view; and the book ‘ Lahore
to Yarkand,’ published by Mr. A. O. Hume and Dr. Henderson the naturalist to the expedition, is
full of interest to the ornithologist. South-western Asia, or at least that part of it embraced in
the Mediterraneo-Persic subregion of modern writers, still requires considerable exploration before we
can be considered to have a thorough knowledge of its ornithology. The birds of the Caucasus
have been treated of by Menetries; and more recently Professor Bogdan off has published a work on
the species inhabiting this region, which, however, from being written in Russian, will, like Dr.
SevertzofFs ‘Fauna of Turkestan,’ be unintelligible to the great majority of readers. Filippi’s
* Viaggio in Persia ’ also contains a useful list of the birds met with by him; but by far the most
important work on the zoology of Persia is that of Mr. W. T. Blanford, who has given a very
complete account of the birds obtained by him during his travels from Baluchistan through Persia to