By treating of the avifauna of South Africa according to what
I consider to he its natural limits, the area known as the South
African Sub-region extends to the Zambesi River on the east
coast, and to the Quanza River on the west, and this has resulted
in a large increase in the number of birds to be described. I have,
therefore, endeavoured to make the geographical distribution of
South African birds a feature of the present edition, and in some
instances, such as in the "Woodpeckers, Grass- \Varblers, "Wheatears,
and Larks, a complete revision of the families has been attempted
and new descriptions supplied. In most cases, however, I have
retained the original descriptions given by Mr. Layard, inasmuch
as they were compiled by a first-rate field-ornithologist for the
benefit of field-ornithologists, and because they had proved eminently
successful in the first edition.
I have to thank all the kind friends who have assisted me in
the production of the present volume, and I must mention more
particularly the names of Captain Shelley, Mr. J. H. Gurney,
Mr. J. E. Harting, Mr. Howard Saunders and Canon Tristram, who
by the loan of specimens, or by actual assistance in the revision of
certain groups of birds of which they possess special knowledge,
have considerably lightened the labour of preparing the second
edition of the “ Birds of South Africa.”
March 24, 1884.
R. BOWDLER SHARPE.
INTRODUCTION.
A lthough several species of birds from South Africa were known
to the early writers, and are to be found figured and described in
the pages of Brisson, and Linnaeus, Sparrmann, Gmelin, and
Latham, it was not until the beginning of the present century, when
Levaillant published his “ Oiseaux d’Afrique,” that any connected
history of the ornithology of Africa was attempted. Levaillant
resided principally in the southern portion of the Cape Colony, and
many of his accounts of the habits of the birds are exceedingly
good, and evidently taken from personal observation, but it is
greatly to be regretted that his work contains a large number of
species introduced into the book as African which are in reality
inhabitants of totally different countries ; in fact, on many occasions
he admits the circumstance. The late M. Jules Yerreaux, who
knew Levaillant personally, told us that it was quite by accident
that these extraneous species were introduced into his work, that
his intentions were perfectly honest, but that many of his specimens
were lost, and were not at his disposal when he wrote his book
in Europe. He consequently figured many species in his book
which he fancied that he had seen in Southern Africa, and that he
had no deliberate intention to deceive. In the case of several species
which were made up of two or three different kinds of birds,
Yerreaux stoutly held that Levaillant was himself deceived, and that
he really believed the specimens placed in his hand to be individuals
of some species which he remembered to have seen in South