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INTRODUCTION.
Eyes, since the publication of the ‘ Gatalogue of Birds ’ I have kept a
record of the additional species described, and my notes will be published
in the supplementary volumes of the * Catalogue ’ to be issued shortly.
The writing of these notes has been rendered the more easy,by the
fact that for many years I have compiled the | Aves ’ portion of the
• Zoological Record/
I t gave me, therefore, great pleasure when the Trustees of the British
Museum consented to publish a new ‘ H and-list of Birds,’ since the need
of such a work has long been recognized by ornithologists. The present
compilation differs only from that of my predecessor, the late G-eorge
Robert G-ray, in that I have had the advantage of being able to refer to
the I Catalogue of Birds,’ where a full synonymy of each species will
be found. The geographical range is here given as concisely as possible,
and is based on the conclusions derived from the | Catalogue,’ instead of
being founded chiefly on the material in the British Museum, as was
done in Gray’s ‘ H and-list.’ The system of classification followed in the
present work is tha t proposed by myself in 1891, in my address to the
Second Ornithological Congress at Buda-Pest. I have seen no reason
to modify the conclusions there recorded in any material degree.
I have ventured to incorporate in what appears to me to be their
natural position the extinct forms of birds; but it is difficult to discover
all the descriptions of fossil birds, scattered as they are through so many
publications. In some of my volumes of the ‘ Catalogue ’ fossil forms
are enumerated, but in most of the volumes no record of the extinct
birds has been attempted. My work in this direction has been