PREFACE.

vill
of science, in the advancement of which no one was more ardent, to induce him to join
Dr. Leichardt in his overland journey from Moreton Bay to Port Essington. On this
expedition, he, as usual, displayed his wonted zeal and activity until the 28th of June, when,
the party being treacherously attacked by the natives, his valuable life was sacrificed, 1 lost
a most able coadjutor, and science has to deplore one of her most devoted servants ;
fortunately, however, in despite of the many difliculties and dangers which beset the party
during the remainder of their journey, his journals and notes, together with the specimens he
had been able to procure, were preserved and transmitted to me by Dr. Leichardt, and proved

of valuable assistance in determining the range of many of the species.

My own researches commenced immediately after passing the Equator, from whence,
throughout the entire route to Australia, [ omitted no opportunity of studying the habits, and
collecting the different species of the oceanic birds that came under my notice: these
observations were again resumed on my return to England; and as the outward passage
was by the Cape of Good Hope, and the homeward one by Cape Horn, they extended
round the globe, and, as will be seen in the course of the work, have led to some
important results. And here I must acknowledge my obligations to the various captains
with whom [I sailed, namely Captain M°Kellar of the “ Parsee,” which vessel conveyed me
to Van Diemen’s Land; Captain Harding of the “ Black Joke,’ in which I proceeded from
Launceston to Adelaide ; Captain Fell of the “Catherine Stewart Forbes,” in which I returned
from Adelaide to Hobart Town ; Captain Gilchrist of the “ Potentate,” in which I sailed from
Hobart Town to Sydney; and Lieutenant Mallard, R.N., of the « Kinnear,” which brought me
to England; all of whom rendered me every assistance in their power, and the use of a boat
and crew whenever the weather would admit of one being lowered, by which means I was
enabled to obtain nearly forty species of Petrel, being the finest collection of the Procellaride

ever brought together.

At the commencement of the work it was not expected that it would prove so extensive as
it has become, since not more than about 300 species were then known, which number has now
been increased, by the united efforts of myself and those who have so kindly aided my views, to
upwards of 600 species, among which are comprised many forms remarkable for their novelty,
the anomalous character of their structure, and the singularity of their habits, such as the Bower

Birds (Ptilonorhynchi and Chlamydere) and the Mound-raising Birds (Talegalla, Leipoa and