360 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. Fauna Boreali- Americana, or the Zoology of the Northern 

 Parts of British America, Part II., containing the Birds. By 

 W. Swainson, Esq. F.R.S., and John Richardson, Esq. M.D. 

 F.R.S. &c. 4to, 523 pages, with fifty coloured plates, and forty 

 illustrative woodcuts. London, Murray, 1832. 



The appearance of the first zoological work ever published 

 under the sanction and by the assistance of the British Go- 

 vernment, is more particularly a matter of congratulation to 

 our numerous readers ; and the volume before us will justify 

 our warmest and most sincere recommendation. 



The objects of natural history collected during the last 

 over-land expedition to the Polar Sea, under the command 

 of Captain Sir John Franklin, to which Dr. Richardson was 

 attached as surgeon and naturalist, being too numerous for a 

 detailed account of them to be comprised within the ordinary 

 limits of an Appendix to the narrative of the proceedings of 

 the journey, as had been the case on previous expeditions of 

 discovery, it was considered desirable, from their great num- 

 ber and value, that they should be made known to the world 

 in a separate form. As it was necessary, however, in order 

 to render such a publication useful, that many of the subjects, 

 particularly in the ornithological and botanical parts, should 

 be illustrated by figures, the expense would have been an in- 

 surmountable difficulty, had not His Majesty's government, 

 actuated by a laudable desire to encourage science, most 

 liberally assisted the undertaking. At the recommendation 

 of the Secretary of State for Colonial Affairs, the Treasury 

 granted one thousand pounds to be applied solely towards 

 defraying the expense of the engravings. The first part of 

 this national work has appeared, with 28 spirited represent- 

 ations of Mammalia, from drawings by Landseer. Part II., 

 the Birds, with 50 illustrations, admirably drawn by Mr. 

 Swainson, and as beautifully coloured, with 40 woodcuts in 

 addition, is now before the public. The entomological part, 

 by the Rev. Mr. Kirby ; and the botany, by Dr. Hooker, both 

 equally embellished with numerous plates, also by first-rate 

 artists, are in a forward state. The whole work may be con- 



