some received through different channels, have been published. To that enthusiastic naturalist and excellent friend I am also deeply indebted for the valuable notes which he has forwarded to me through my friend EDWARD HARRIS. I had the gratification of receiving at London a diploma from the Literary and Historical Society of Quebec; and since then have been favoured with a list of the birds which have been observed in the environs of that city, by WILLIAM SHEPPARD, Esq., his lady, and son, for which I offer them my most sincere thanks. I am also much indebted to the members of the Council of the Zoological Society of London, who have never ceased to furnish me with whatever American specimens their valuable museum contains, allowing me to take them to my house. I am farther indebted to my excellent and generous friend Professor J. T. HENSLOW of Cambridge for the continuance of his most kind services to me. Nor must I here omit mentioning the efficient aid I have received from THOMAS DURHAM WEIR, Esq. of Boghead, in the county of Linlithgow, and Mr MACDUFF CARFRAE, Preserver of Animals in Edinburgh, who have kindly procured for me many specimens of British birds for comparison with such of our American species as seemed to be identical. For several years past I have felt a great desire to place before the world an account of the digestive organs of our various birds. With this view I have, at a great expense, obtained specimens preserved entire in spirits. In collecting them I have received the most effectual aid from several of my American friends, residing in different parts of the country; and in particular from the Rev. Dr BACHMAN of Charleston in South Carolina, Colonel THEODORE ANDERSON of Baltimore, Dr RICHARD HARLAN of Philadelphia, Dr THOMAS M. BREWER of Boston in Massachusetts, THOMAS M’CULLOCH, Esq. of Pictou in Nova Scotia; ALEXANDER GORDON, Esq. of London, who wrote to Havannah for Flamingoes; JEAN CHARTRAND, Esq. who sent me a pair of these birds from Matanzas in Cuba; and from Captain NAPOLEON COSTE of the United States’ Revenue Service. Besides the valuable contributions of these friends, to whom my warmest thanks are due, a vast number of specimens were procured by the members of my several parties, in Labrador, in Texas, and in various parts of the United States, as well as many purchased from Mr WARD of New York. An account of the digestive organs and trachea of these, generally concise, but occasionally of considerable length, you will find under the articles to which they refer, in the present volume. These anatomical descriptions, as well as the sketches by which they are sometimes illustrated, have been executed by my learned friend WILLIAM MACGILLIVRAY, who in the most agreeable manner consented to undertake the labour, by no means small, of such a task, and to whom those who are interested in the progress of Ornithological science, as well as myself, must therefore feel indebted. These details