INE RODUCTIGN. 3

he intended to embrace was a very large one; and it is not surprising that tbirt -three years should have
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been insufficient to complete less than a quarter of the undertaking. Species from Palestine to the westward,
and from the Moluccas to the east, have been figured in the ‘ Birds of Asia;’ and it is equally certain
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that a larger number of new species have been discovered by ornithologists in the course of a year
than were figured by Mr. Gould in the single part of the ‘Birds of Asia’ which he issued annually,
It may not be uninteresting, however, to glance rapidly over the countries included in Asia by the
author of the present work, and to estimate the increase of knowledge which has taken place since
he commenced his gigantic task. Of the ornithology of Siberia but little was known up to the year
1850, beyond the writings of the old Russian travellers Pallas and Gmelin. Since the above-mentioned
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date, the explorations of Middendorff, of Schrenck, and Radde have creatl increased our knowledge, while
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the travels of Dr. Finsch on the river Ob added many interesting particulars respectine that region.
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One of the most important ex veditions, however, to this portion of northern Asia, was that undertaken
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by our countryman Mr. Henry Seebohm, who in 1877 visited the alley of the Yen-e-say, discovered
the breeding-places of many birds (unknown up to that date), and brought back laree collections of
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animals from that little-known portion of the globe. His experiences and adventures are related in
his work ‘Siberia in Asia,’ one of the most entertaining books of travel which it has ever been our
lot to peruse. Central Asia remained for a long time a ¢erra incognita to the naturalist; but about
the year 1872 Dr. Severtzoff commenced to publish the results of his journeys through Turkestan,
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while at the same time the mission to Yarkand despatched by our government, under the leadership
of Sir Douglas Forsyth, was also successful from an ornithological point of view; and the book ‘ Lahore
to Yarkand,’ published by Mr. A. O. Hume and Dr. Henderson the naturalist to the expedition, is
full of interest to the ornithologist.  South-western Asia, or at least that part of it embraced in
the Mediterraneo-Persic subregion of modern writers, still requires considerable exploration before we
can be considered to have a thorough knowledge of its ornithology. The birds of the Caucasus
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have been treated of by Ménétriés; and more recently Professor Bogdanoff has published a work on
the species inhabiting this region, which, however, from being written in Russian, will, like Dr.
Severtzoff’s ‘Fauna ot Turkestan,’ be unintelligible to the great majority of readers. Filippi’s
‘Viaggio in Persia’ also contains a useful list of the birds met with by him; buat by far the most

important work on the zoology of Persia is that of Mr. W. T. Blanford, who has given a_ very

os

complete account of the birds obtained by him during his travels from Baluchistan through Persia to