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P R E F A C E .
T he object originally contemplated by the authors o f the present work was to
continue the well-known series o f illustrations contained in the " Planches Enluminées”
o f Buffon and Daubenton, the “ Planches Coloriées" o f Temminck, and the
“ Iconographie Ornithologique” o f Des Murs.
The first-named book furnishes us with representations o f about 1500 species o f
birds, the second with those o f about 750. and the last with those o f 70 species.
Upwards o f 8000 species o f this class o f animals being now known to science, it wiU
be apparent that there was ample room for a succession o f similar works. I t is trae
that there have been published of late years a large number o f magnificently illustrated
volumes relating to various branches o f ornithology. But these have been chiefly in
the nature o f Faunas—devoted to the birds o f one particular country, or Monogi-aphs—
confined to the members o f a single genus or Family. The present work was originally
intended to be o f a completely general n a t iir e -to iUustrate the many new and rare
ornithic forms that have been recently discovered in nearly every part o f the world’s
surface. As it progressed, however, the authors found that it would be more convenient
to restrict it to the birds o f the Neotropical E e g io n - th a t is America south o f the
United States. No other part o f the world can vie with Tropical America in the
richness o f its Avifauna ; and nowhere else have so many brilliant discoveries been
recently made as in its various districts. Moreover, one o f the authors is so fortunate
as to have been the original explorer o f the ornithology o f a very interesting portion of
this Begion, and has thus been enabled to append to the accounts o f the species mot
with within Üiis area notes on their habits and local distribution.
The present work, therefore, which has hcon issued in numbers since October 1st,
1866, contains in its now complete form a series o f one hundred coloured illustrations
o f Central and South American birds. The number o f species figured is 104-, belonging
to 51 difi'crent genera. To the final illustration o f each genus has been appended in
nearly every case a systematic list o f all the other American species o f the same genus