Page:DawsonOrnithologicalMiscVol1.djvu/17

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PREFACE.



In launching forth the 'Ornithological Miscellany' it is a source of much regret that I am unable to say how many Numbers will be published, or when they are likely to appear; nor can I even tell to which departments of ornithology, fossil or recent, they may be devoted. My single idea, as a working ornithologist, is to try and advance that science in any way possible. I love it much, and am unable to confine my view exclusively to any one of the zoogeographical regions now adopted by zoologists, and first established by Dr. Sclater.

Number I. relates exclusively to the ornis of New Zealand, on account of the recent discovery there of a new species of Apteryx. All the Illustrations have been executed by Mr. Keulemans—the birds from specimens set up by Mr. Swaysland, in my own collection, received by me direct from New Zealand.