When, in 1855, the Zoological Society determined to abandon the
idea of keeping up a separate Museum, to the British Museum was
given the choice of securing whatever specimens were deemed of value
to the national collection, and the choice of the birds was, I believe, left
in th e hands of my predecessor, Mr. George Bobert Gray. The number
of types which ought to have come to the British Museum and did not
do so is considerable, and among the most important were the Himalayan
types of Gould’s ‘ Century.’ Out of the ninety specimens which
Vigors mentions as having been given by Gould to the Museum, I can find
b u t three a t the present day : viz., the type of Alcedo guttatus (purchased
in 1881 with the rest of the Gould Collection), the male of Pteiythius
erythropterus, from th e same source, and Coccothraustes icteroides, which
seems really to he the only type of th e | C entury ’ about which no doubt
can exist (of. Sharpe,Cat. B. xii. p. 44). Of Turdus pcecilopterus\~Merula
boulbouT], spec, y of Seebohm’s fifth volume of th e ‘ Catalogue ’ (p. 249),
from the Gould Collection, may possibly have been one of the types.
The same may he said of Cinclosoma ocellatum, of which spec, a of my
seventh volume of the ‘ Catalogue ’ (p. 383) may possibly be th e type. Of
Cinclosoma variegatum specimens v, w, of th e same volume (p. 360), from
the Gould Collection, may perhaps be types ’ . In none of these cases,
however, is there any proof of the fact.
On th e completion of the ‘ Century,’ Gould seems to have been so far
encouraged by the success of his first undertaking as to have commenced
the publication of several folio works, the most important of which
was his ‘ Birds of Europe.’ Assisted by his wife in the drawing of the
plates, which were 449 in number, he appears to have published the whole
of the five volumes between 1832 and 1837; b u t during the same time
he was also occupied with the production of sundry other works. Thus
in 1834 appeared a ‘Monograph of th e PampKastidce, or Eamily of
* jST.B.—On p. 360 of vol. vii. of the ‘ Catalogue of Birds’ for Cinclosoma erythropterum read
C. erythrocejphalum.
Toucans; ’ in 1837 th e ‘ Synopsis of th e Birds of A ustra lia ,’ wherein
were figured th e heads of most of th e species of birds known to in h ab it
th a t great country up to the time when Gould wrote. B u t even th en
additional material was beginning to flow in upon him from th e southern
continent, for th e ‘ Synopsis’ contains an appendix in which many new
species are described bu t not figured.
The two parts of the £ leones Avium ’ were published in 1837 and
1838; and in th e la tte r work Gould appears to have conceived the idea
of publishing a monograph of th e CaprimulgidcB, or family of Goat
suckers—a difficult undertaking, which had to be abandoned m face of
his journey to Australia, which must have been a t th a t time m contemplation
; before going, however, he had finished his ‘ Monograph
of the Trogonidce, or Eamily of Trogons.’
The energy with which Gould and his devoted wife worked during the
eight years from 1830 to 1838 may be gauged by the above list of works
which they produced in th e tim e ; and he seems to have found leisure
to visit th e principal Museums of Europe, while his friendship with
Temminck, then Director a t the Leyden Museum, enabled h im to figure
many of th e rare birds which th a t museum possessed. In his preface to
th e ‘Birds of Europe ’ Mr. Gould states th a t th e greater number of th e
plates of th a t work, as well as all those of his ‘ Century of Birds,’ th e
‘ Monograph of th e Trogons,’ and a t least three fourths of those of th e
‘Monograph of th e Toucans,’ had been drawn and lithographed by
Mrs. Gould from sketches and designs by himself, always tak en from
nature. The remainder of th e drawings were done by Mr. Lear.
I n 1837 Gould commenced to publish his ‘ Birds of Australia. A
second p a rt bears date 1838; b u t he speedily found th a t he had not
sufficient material to carry on the work as he wished it to be done, and
he therefore boldly conceived the notion of leaving England w ith his
wife, for th e purpose of procuring th e specimens necessary for the