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12 INTRODUCTION.

AT VETS

Natt f Vienna, the Prince Massena, the Earl of Derby, the Baron de la Fresnaye, the Zoological
Natterer o a, the e
arene :

fi irectors of the Royal Museums of Berlin, Leyden and

Society of London, the Viscomte DuBus, the Directors of the Roye j
"aC on ooe OC Pinisdelninee Pe

Paris, and the Museums of Neufchatel and the Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia; all of whom
ar D»5 Cc o Ss

have, where necessary, most liberally lent me even unique specimens for illustration, besides which
NAVIES Ww SSary, ‘ ,

:
:

my own collection has been from time to time enriched by the addition of several new and undescribed

species.

All the members of this group are strictly American, and by far the greater number of them are natives of
that portion of the continent lying between the 30th degree of North latitude and the Equator. Four species
are now included in the fauna of North America, and four have been discovered in Brazil; some few extend
their range to the larger of the West Indian Islands; the late researches among the Andes, particularly

in Peru, Bolivia, and the neighbourhood of Santa Fé de Bogota, have made us acquainted with several
others ; and it is in the countries contiguous to that vast mountain range that additional species may most

probably yet be found.

That the members of this group are of very general interest to ornithologists, is evidenced by the fact

that several writers have given a synoptical list of the species with which they were acquainted. Not more

than two appear to have been known to Linneus, by whom they were included in his genus Zetrao. Latham,

in the eighth volume of his “ General History of Birds,” published in 1823, enumerates nine species, two

of which being synonymous with others, the number is reduced to seven. At the first Scientific Meeting of
on, held on the 9th of November, 1830, Mr. \

were then known, to which he added Ortyw ne

the Zoological Society of Lond ‘igors stated that nine species
ovenus and O. affinis, at the same time expressing his doubts
as to whether they might not prove to be females or young males of Ortyw Sonninii or O. cristatus and it has
since been ascertained that his Q. neoxvenus is the female of O. cristatus ; but his O. apins will, I believe,
prove to be a distinct species. M. Lesson was the next author who g

ave a list of the species of this group,
of which he only enumerates nine ; and the last writers who appear to have given a general revision of the
subject are Messrs. Jardine and Selby, who in the Synopsis Specierum published in the first and
third volumes of their « Illustrations of Ornithology,” increase the number to eleven. By most of these
authors, some mistakes have been made as to the identity of the s ;

pecies and
to them; and in more than one inst

ance, the old Perdiv Falklandicus
1€ genus Ortyy. F

less than thirty-five species

the synonyms having reference

, a bird belonging to a totally different

group, is included in tl] ew of my readers will, I apy

yrehend, be prepared to learn that not

are now known; of these, several have been lately described by myself in the
“Pr nos y ae, aye Ne

roceedings of the Zoological Society,” and others by Messrs. Lichtenstein, Lesson and Natterer in
various continental publications. Vieillot was the first

author who perceived the propriety of separating one

of the members of this or 2, 7 : :
i s S group from TZesrgo ordain» wp oe ,

srouy 0 and Perdix > Proposing the term Odontophorus for the Zetrao

Guianensis of Gmelin ; phens must have |
st have been

a fact, with which Mr. Ste 1
/ ‘ ch Mr. Ste unacquainted when he proposed
me term! Orta for the American Parte: 1 I

yx tor the American Partridges collectively, with O. Virginianus for the type. These two

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