I am truly and sincerely thankful for the blessing of health which has attended me during the course
o f my twelve years’ labour on the present work; and it was only while the Introductory matter was going
through the press that a severe blight fell upon me (the untimely death o f my youngest son, Dr. Franklin
Gould*), and cast a gloom over my future happiness. I should not have alluded to this painful subject
here did I not feel it was only doing justice to his memory, as he rendered me great assistance in the
composition o f the following Introduction, which, from his varied acquirements, he was well qualified to
give. His loss has called forth the sympathy of many kind friends, which has in some measure assuaged
the sad affliction which has befallen me. I f I am spared it is my intention not to be id le ; for although I
do not entertain the idea o f entering upon any new enterprise, I shall still pursue the subject with the same
energy I have hitherto done,—a t one period o f the year attending to the Birds o f Asia, a t another to the
recent discoveries in the ornithology o f Australia, pursuing the subject to New Guinea and the adjacent
islands, the avifaunas o f these latter countries being inseparable.
I t gives me great pleasure to state that my Secretary, Mr. Prince, after twelve months o f very severe
illness, is again able to render me his assistance, that Mr. Wolf affords me the benefit o f his talented pencil,
and that Mr. Richter and Mr. H a rt continue their services as heretofore.
JO H N GOULD.
November 1,1873.
* Dr. F. Gould died of fever on board tbe Steamship ‘ Behar ’ on the 19th of March last, during his passage from India to
Suez, and was buried the same day in the Red Sea.
I NTRODUCTION.
In the olden time when the wolf and the wild boar roamed over the primitive forests o f Great Britain, when
the beaver held its own in our silent and undisturbed streams and lakes, wheu the red deer followed our
mountain-tracks in all the vigour o f its pristine condition, when our marshes and great sedge-covered watery
wastes were yearly visited by the Crane and the Spoonbill, the earliest dawn o f natural history which was to
herald the light o f future ages had not yet broken upon the untutored Celt, who alone shared with those
animals the possession o f our islands. With the progress o f civilization that obscurity has been gradually
dispelled; and, happily for our country, from the time when Gilbert White wrote his charming account of
Selborne, the study o f natural history, more particularly with reference to our native birds, has gradually
increased, until its pleasures have become widely known to both young and old. The talented Bewick
rendered the subject still further attractive by his inimitable and truthful drawings; then followed iii the
same path Selby, Macgillivray, Thompson, and Yarrell, whose writings have made this branch of science so
popular that it now engrosses the minds o f thousands. O f the truth o f this statement ample evidence is
afforded by the numerous works (both great and small) which have been recently published, by the many
local faunas which have lately appeared, and by the establishment of naturalists’ clubs and associations in
many parts o f the country. Such has been the impetus given by these means to the study of natural history
that it will scarcely be presumptuous in me to foretell that a period is not far distant when our native birds
will be far more familiarly known to the people than they now are. For, although it may appear surprising
to many of my readers, I assert that at the present time there are but few persons who could enumerate
by name even a fourth part of the birds by which we are surrounded. Country people are familiar enough
with the call o f the Wryneck, the voice of the Cuckoo, and the crake o f the Landrail; but few, very few,
would recognize those birds if placed before them. Will it not, then, be well to encourage the formation