, 452 



PART 11. 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. Catalogue of Works on Natural History ^ lately puUished, 

 tuith some Notice of those considered the most interesting to British 

 Naturalists, 



Britain. 



Wilson's Illustrations of Zoology, &c. No. VII. (See Vol. I. p. 52.)— This 

 number is inferior in execution and in interest to any of its predecessors. It 

 contains, as usual, four plates, the first of which represents the Ternate 

 kingfisher (Tanysiptera dea Vigors), an inhabitant of the Island of Ternate, 

 one of the Moluccas. The bird is drawn standing on a rock, ready and 

 prepared for flight ; but the feet are awkwardly and unnaturally placed, and 

 the shorter feathers of the tail have a stiff undulating margin, very like an 

 edging of blue ribbon fitted on by the cunning hand of a little sempstress. 

 The second and third plates are dedicated to the male and female of the 

 pheasant-tailed grouse (Tetrao Urophasianus), a fine species, " plentiful 

 throughout the barren arid plains of the River Colombia, as well as in the 

 interior of North California. These plates are beautifully engraved and 

 coloured, but the artist has displayed little skill in the position of the birds, 

 and in the management of light and shade. They are not living but dead 

 birds, well stuffed, and set up. In the fourth plate we have delineated the 

 Jasius butterfly (Nymphalis Jasius). The beauty of the insect is great, but, 

 considered as a whole, the plate is unworthy of the work. There is much 

 waste ground in it which might have been profitably occupied. Neither the 

 caterpillar nor chrysalis are delineated ; and it would surely have added 

 much to the value, and even to the beauty, of the picture, to have given 

 these, though they had been copies. Further, the grass on which one of the 

 figures is placed, is altogether imaginary ! This will never do : we ought 

 to have had the plant on which the insect feeds in its first stage of exist- 

 ence, or the flower which, when a winged being, it loves to hover on, and 

 sip the honied nectar. Such a picture might have been worthy of Mr. 

 Wilson's pencil, and worthy of the elegant and pleasing description which 

 accompanies it. We cannot but remark, likewise, that two of these plates 

 are litihographic j and when the comparative expense of engraving on stone 

 and copper is considered, perhaps the public have a right to coniplain when 

 this difference is not compensated for, either by an additional plate, or by 

 additional letter-press. Far from us is any wish to depreciate the work ; 

 for we, in fact, feel anxious for, and interested in, its success ; but that suc- 

 cess, we feel confident, will be best secured by making every successive num- 

 ber at least equal to the first specimens. — N, 



Donovan, E., Esq. F.L.S. W.S. &c.. Author of the Natural History of Bri- 

 tish Birds, and of various other approved Works on Natural History ; 

 The Natural History of the Nests and Eggs of British Birds. The De- 

 scriptions, which are calculated for the Naturalist as well as general 

 Observer, are intended to comprehend every useful Trait of Information 



