4^ Rennie^s ArcJiitecture of Birds, 



Mr. Rennie, in his remarks on system, takes occasion to reply to the 

 article occurring in this Magazine at p. 273. : — " It is," says Mr. Rennie, 

 " pitiful to hear the querulous tone in which the manufacturers of words 

 and systems complain of their * legitimate ' productions, as they call them, 

 being * unworthily neglected,' and * left to languish and decay ; ' ' because 

 the grown-up public are satisfied with infants' food in the shape of cheap 

 compilations, crude translations, wonders of the insect world, &c. &c., with 

 such like amusing trifles, fit only for children.' This may be taken, indeed, 

 as the creed of each and every systematist, who looks upon details of the 

 wonders and wisdom displayed in creation as amusing trifles, fit only for 

 children, while the * legitimate science ' of names, grouping, and affinities, 

 is fit to * reflect honour upon any age and country.' I, on the contrary, 

 claim no merit for looking upon this so-called * legitimate science ' as far 

 below the leyel even of an amusing trifle ; since, to every rational reader, 

 not infected with the mania for this sort of frippery, arrogantly and falsely 

 called science, it must appear in the same light. Pitying the dry drudgery 

 of the authors who have spent their hours in thus nibbling down nature 

 to their own narrow measurements, and laying their works on the shelf, 

 where they are destined to remain unopened, I bid them a long farewell ; 

 and hurrying * forth,' as Solomon did of old, * to the field,' I can revel 

 with * ever new delight ' in 



* The boundless store 

 Which bounteous Nature to her vot'ries yields : 

 The warbling woodland, the resounding shore. 

 The pomp of groves, the garniture of fields ; 

 All that the genial ray of morning gilds. 

 And all that echoes to the song of even.' " Beattie. 



As an instructive admonition to our young readers, and as an instance 

 of Mr. Rennie's candour, we quote the following : — " Recent observations, 

 by extending our views, have shown that, in several instances, Montagu 

 was led into mistakes. Although I have corrected many of these, it does 

 not follow that all my corrections are themselves correct ; for subsequent 

 observation may in the same way prove at least some of them to be 

 wrong : as the youngest naturalist who will pursue the plan I have recom- 

 mended may, perhaps, discover, if he examine Nature for himself, and not 

 allow his thoughts to be trammelled by the leading-strings either of the 

 present work or of any other." — J.D. 



JRennicy James: Architecture of Birds. London, 1831. 12mo. 2s. and 

 4s. 6d. 



The reading public are laid under further obligations to the Society for 

 the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge by the publication of another most in- 

 teresting volume, entitled the Architecture of Birds, which is likely to afl^ord 

 to the ornithologist, as well as to the casual reader, a large fund of inform- 

 ation and amusement. The volumes sent forth to the world as the Library 

 of Entertaining Knowledge well deserve that title ; for I deem them, at 

 the present time, to be not only the most entertaining, but at the same 

 time the most useful works that are issued from the press. They might, 

 in comparison with the other series published by the same Society, be more 

 justly called " useful " as well as " entertaining " knowledge; for the deep, 

 and I had almost said abstruse, sciences published under the title of the 

 Library of Useful Knowledge, are of such a profound character that they 

 require a person with a collegiate education before one fifth of them could 

 become serviceable: and, consequently, the ostensible object for which they 

 are put forth, viz. the affording information to the poorer classes, is com- 



