xxiv INTRODUCTION.
therefore feel indebted. These details® had resolved to present
to you, because I haYe thought that no perfect knowledge
of the affinities of species can be obtained until their internal
organization is known. I believe the time to be fast approaching
when much of the results obtained from the inspection of
the exterior alone will be laid aside ¡when museums filled with
stuffed skins will be considered insufficient to afford a knowledge
of birds; and when the student will go forth not only to
observe the habits and haunts of animals, but to procure specimen
® of them to be carefully dissected.
When I commenced the present volume, I expected that it
Should contain descriptions of all the species represented in
the fourth volume! of my Illustrations ; but, tin proceeding,'!
found that, even without Episodes, which I have been.obliged
to exclude, in order to make room for anatomical notices,,,of
more interest to the scientific reader, I could not include more
than the usual number of one hundred species. In the fifth
and concluding volume, the printing of which hap already be,-
gun, you will find Descriptions of upwards of- a hundred spocies,,
many of. which are new to scimvcf* together with Lists
illustrative of the. geographical distributor of birds, au Appendix
containing additions , ,and corrections, and, finally, a
Synopsis of the Birds oi;:vNi>rth America, methodically arranged,
with generic and-sjiocilie characters.
JOHN .J. AUDUBON.
EDINBURGH, 1st November 1638.
TABLE OF CONTENTS.
Page
Canvass-back Duck, . . . . .' Fuligula valisneriana, . . . 1
Dusky Duck, . . . . .. •. • 15
Bartramian Sandpiper,. >..,..» Totanus Bartramius, . 24,
Turnstone, . . . . • • .' •' Strepsilas Jhterpres, . ;. • 31
Purple Gallinule, ,. , . , Gallínula martinico., . . . 37
Great Northern Diver or Loon, Colyrribus glacialis, . . . •¡ 4B
Blue Heron, Ardea ccehtlea, . • ,. . .•
Tell-Tale Godwit, . . / Totanus melcmoleucus, . . 68
Common Tern, .' . . . '. : Sterna Hirundo, . . . . 74
Spotted Sandpiper, . , i. . . -, Totanus maculariiis, . . . 81
American White Pelican, , . . Pelecanus americanus, . . . 88
Long-tailed Duck, . . . . Fuligula glacialis, . . . 103
Blue-winged Teal, . . . . . Atias aiscors, . «' '.' . . Ill
Black-headed or Laughing Gull, hams Atricilla, . . . . . 118
Knot or Ash-coloured Sandpiper, Tringa islándica, ... . . . 130
Anhinga or Snake-Bird, . . . Plotus Anhinga, 136
Fuligula perspicillata, . . 161
American Avoset, . . . . . Recurvirostra americana, ' i 163
Least Tern, . . . . . . . Sterna minuta . 175
Little Sandpiper, . . . ,. . , Triruja pusilla, . . . , . 180
Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea Ajaja, . . . . . 188
Red-headed Duck, . . . . . . Fuligula Ferina, . . . . . 198
Black Skimmer or Razor-billed"»
Shearwater, , . . . . / Rhynchops nigra, . . . 20?
Bonapartian Gull, Larus Banapartii, . . . . 212
Buffel-headed Duck, . . . . Fuligula Albeola, . . ., 217
Common Gannet, . . . . . . . . 222
vol.. e