by a great variety of designs of human crania; portraits of many individuals, and whole lengths of the races, some of which are taken from living specimens. The Carnivora are very abundant; particularly the families of viverrine, ursine, canine and feline animals; but the ruminantia are particularly numerous, and form by far the largest original collection in existence. Since the paper on this order was published, in Mr. Griffith's translation of Cuvier's Regne animal, many important additions have been made to a collection, chiefly through the liberality of General Hardwicke; and it is a pleasing duty to add, that more are promised by the active exertions of the Asiatic society, and from Canton and Brazil— these series contain above one thousand figures.

Of ornithological specimens, the museum of the Jardin du Roi at Paris, furnished alone near six hundred. Bullock's, the Philadelphia and New York museums have likewise furnished a great many. In this collection, are the greatest number of objects from private cabinets, and from original drawings, executed in India. It is particularly rich in Palmipedes, Lamellirostres, Gallinaceæ, and Grallæ. Some passerine families are likewise numerous, and contain several not as yet engraved, notwithstanding that so many works on ornithology daily issue from the press-Mr. Howitt and Mr. Griffith have published several.

The birds figured amount to about two thousand three hundred, all accompanied by an appropriate backscape, to illustrate the habitat of the species. I ought to have stated in the Mammalia that similar backscapes have been sketched to them, often taken on the spot where the specimen was found or where it was known to reside,

The icthiological series forms the third collection of this division, and consists of fish drawn from living or recent specimens chiefly caught in the Channel, at sea, off Madeira, on

the west coast of Africa, on the east coast of South America, the West Indies, North America seas, lakes, and rivers; to these are added copies of nearly the whole collection in the Banksian library, which was obtained during Cook's voyages, a considerable number of the most remarkable in the collection of the Prince of Nassau at Berlin, and the Plumierian at Paris. Moreover, drawings from specimens in various museums and private collections. It consists at present of nearly one thousand figures, among which some that may have escaped the extensive researches of Baron Cuvier, whose elaborate work on this branch of Zoology is now in the course of publication.

In the closing series of the whole, are several drawings which do not belong to any of the foregoing. Among them an interesting subject of a great Boa Cenchris, (Aboma) a series of Crocodiles, Sepiadæ, Mollusca, and Lepidoptera; the first of these were intended to exemplify new species in each of the sub-genera, and the second shows several colossal species of Sepia and Loligo, which do not appear to have been circumstantially described.

In this abstract I may have been too diffuse on some subjects, and not sufficiently so on others; judging that what was deemed to be least known would tolerate a more detailed explanation-I did not call your attention much to the long series of views, nor to Zoological subjects, the nature of which must be similar in a great measure to all other collections of the like character. But the costumes of nations having some claim to originality, and certainly a much greater to industry and research, could not, it appeared, be submitted in their true light without explaining the view taken of them, and the circumstances and principles which attended the execution.

Notwithstanding many, perhaps unavoidable, oversights and

defects, in the manner as well as the matter of this still incomplete accumulation of documents-those who are desirous of forming a more correct notion of much of the habits and customs of our ancestors, and of other nations in different ages-those who wish to view something of the carriage and portraiture of many among the celebrated personages of our national history, will find something to give this seductive desire of our fancies," a local habitation and a name "—hence artists who seek for their historical conceptions-that impress of character and truth which is the surest vehicle of the great and beautiful-will here find abundance of materials, with anthorities to establish their degree of authenticity.

Lockyer-street, Plymouth,

9th Nov. 1829.

IX.

ON THE ORNITHOLOGY OF THE SOUTH OF DEVON; BY EDWARD MOORE, M. D. F. L S. AND MEMBER OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION; IN A LETTER TO THE PRESIDENT.

Sir,

THE Transactions of this Institution will doubtless be expected to contain some observations on subjects of science, which admit of illustration in our own immediate neighbourhood; and, as in a work of this nature, we should not be negligent of any means which may afford information to the inquirer, I have been induced to offer a list or catalogue of the different species of birds, which are to be met with in the south of Devonshire. I am not aware that any thing of the kind has hitherto been published-the various writers on the history of the county, (except perhaps Polwhele,) have not made Ornithology an object of much regard—and it is chiefly from one or two scientific men who have particularly devoted themselves to it, that we are to derive most of our information on the subject: I know of no one, who in pursuit of Tatish Ornithology, has conferred greater benefits on the Natural

M M

History of our own county, than the late Col. Montagu, of Kingsbridge, author of the "Ornithological Dictionary.”. Another work, "Ornithologia Danmoniensis," was commenced in 1809, by Dr. A. G. Tucker, of Ashburton, but not continued. A catalogue of the birds of Dartmoor was furnished by this gentleman towards the illustration of Carrington's poem, published in 1826.

A taste for Ornithology, however, has not been wanting in many parts of the county, and many gentlemen have made considerable collections, but their observations have seldom been made known, and valuable specimens have often been lost for want of attention; many of these, however, still exist; the most perfect museums are those of Mr. Comyns, of Mount Pleasant, near Dawlish; of Rev. Mr. Vaughan, of Aveton Giffard; and of Dr. Magrath, of Plymouth; other gentlemen have recently turned their attention to the subject, whose names I shall have to refer to, as I proceed.

The whole of the county of Devon, and its southern division in particular, affords peculiar facilities for the pursuit of this investigation; in no district perhaps, of equal space, is there such a variety of country calculated to be selected, as places of resort, by the feathered tribes; whatever is to be expected from mountain or valley, river or sea, is here to be met with. Nearly in the centre of the county are the wild and barren heights of Dartmoor, and throughout the whole of the district termed the South Hams, we may observe a continued succession of bill and vale; the latter of which is particularly abundant in wood, and the country is intersected by numerous rivers, most of which take their rise from the higher regions of the moor. Twelve of the principal-the Axe, the Sid, the Otter, the Dawl, the Teign, the Dart, the Avon, the Erme, the Yealm, the Plym, and the Tamar, besides the inlet of Salcombe, discharge their waters into the British Channel, while the whole line of coast, extending upwards of sixty miles, is diversified