Bibliographical Notices. 367 



found are scarcely available to any but the professed naturalist ; and 

 we know of no work professing to give a sketch of the ordinary na- 

 tural productions of Australia, for the use of the general reader, such 

 as Dr. Bennett has furnished in the book before us. A residence of 

 nearly thirty years in New South Wales, interspersed only with 

 occasional voyages, principally in the Australasian Seas, during the 

 whole of which he appears to have been constantly engaged in the 

 acquisition of zoological and botanical information, may be regarded 

 as giving him some right to speak with authority upon the natural 

 history of his adopted country ; and the value of many observations 

 upon the habits of birds and other animals, for which we are already 

 indebted to our author, will confirm this right in the eyes of the scien- 

 tific naturalist. In fact, several of the most valuable and important 

 zoological chapters of the present work have already been communi- 

 cated by the author to the Zoological Society : such are those on the 

 Ornithorhynchus, the Mooruk, and the Australian Jabiru. 



Passing over Dr. Bennett's account of marine animals observed on 

 his voyage to Sydney, we find that the first actual step into the 

 zoology of Australia is made by his observations upon that most 

 anomalous of all vertebrate animals, the Ornithorhynchus. Indeed 

 this seems to have been one of the first objects to which he directed 

 his attention on his arrival in New South Wales, when we find him 

 setting out in pursuit of the " Mallangong " (as it is termed by the 

 natives) with an energy which astonished those dusky gentry, who 

 could not understand why the " white feller," with plenty of cattle 

 and sheep at his command, should take so much trouble to get an 

 inferior article of food. Dr. Bennett's account of the Ornithorhyn- 

 chus, of which he had several specimens alive, forms one of the most 

 interesting chapters in his book. 



The descriptions of the manners of the Australian Jabiru (Myc- 

 teria australis) and of the Mooruk or Cassowary of New Britain in 

 confinement, are likewise highly interesting. For the discovery of the 

 latter bird we are indebted to Dr. Bennett ; and his name has deservedly 

 been handed down to posterity in its scientific denomination of Ca- 

 suarius Bennetti. Besides these, we find brief notes on numerous 

 other birds of Australia and the neighbouring islands, such as the 

 Albatrosses, Tropic-Birds, Frigate-Birds, Petrels and Gulls of the 

 coasts, and the King-fishers, Cuckoos, Lyre-Birds, Honey-eaters, 

 Bower-Birds, Pigeons, and Parrots of the interior. And, in con- 

 nexion with these, Dr. Bennett calls the attention of his fellow-colo- 

 nists to the effects of the wanton or ignorant destruction of the 

 feathered inhabitants of the countries in which they have taken up 

 their abode, pointing out, as has frequently been done (we fear with 

 very little effect) in this country, not only that many interesting 

 birds are now nearly exterminated in regions where, not many years 

 ago, they gave animation to the woods and fields, but that, by con- 

 stantly shooting or driving away birds which we may suppose to 

 be injurious to our possessions, we are in many cases actually de- 

 stroying our best friends. Even in the case of those birds which 

 are known to be most destructive to the produce of our fields and 



