The Birds of Australia, Vol. 1 of 7

Synopsis

Having in the summer of 1837 brought my work on the “Birds of Europe” to a successful termination, I was naturally desirous of turning my attention to the Ornithology of some other region; and a variety of concurring circumstances induced me to select that of Australia, the Birds of which, though invested with the highest degree of interest, had been almost entirely neglected. Dr. Shaw, in his “Zoology of New Holland,” had devoted a few plates to the subject, from specimens collected by Sir Joseph Banks during the first voyage of Captain Cook; the “Birds of New Holland” by Lewin comprised not more than twenty-six plates; and figures and descriptions of a few species were given in the earlier voyages of Phillip, White and Collins, and the more recent one of King. 

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