Bibliographical Notices. 471 



series of facts so extensive and so accurate as those which his mag- 

 nificent work contains, 



The solution of the great problem of the origin and distribution 

 of the human race has occupied the attention of naturalists, anato- 

 mists and linguists, but hitherto with little success. In reference 

 to the future progress of the question, it may be well to remark here, 

 that the same circumstance which has retarded so much the advance- 

 ment of the physiology of the human body has in like manner re- 

 tarded the discovery of the mode of origin and distribution of the 

 different races of men. There must be brought to bear upon this 

 subject, in a more exclusive manner than hitherto, a knowledge of 

 the laws of distribution and variation of other species of organized 

 beings — laws which, although counteracted to a certain extent by 

 the intellectual peculiarities of man, have most undoubtedly regu- 

 lated the various changes which have taken place in the progeny of 

 our first parents. 



The Birds of Australia. By John Gould, F.L.S., &c. Part First. 

 Oblong folio. Published by the Author, London, December 1840. 



It may be recollected by many of our readers, that an expedition 

 for the purpose of investigating the zoology, but more particularly 

 the ornithology, of Australia, was undertaken by Mr. Gould nearly 

 three years since ; that gentleman was accompanied by Mrs. Gould, 

 previously well known as an accomplished ornithological draughts- 

 woman, and they have now returned, after a residence of nearly two 

 years and a half in Australia, Van Diemen's Land, Bass Straits, &c, 

 laden with spoils. Six or eight weeks were often spent together in 

 the most interior " Bush," the time devoted entirely to the study 

 and collection of the animals and birds frequenting the districts vi- 

 sited. Mr. Gould's principal object being ornithology, a very large 

 collection has been made of birds, with their nests, eggs and ske- 

 letons. Other departments also have been attended to, and the spe- 

 cies in each have been distributed to persons who, from their pur- 

 suits and rank in science, are enabled to do justice to the different 

 branches, and we trust that ere long the novelties in each will be 

 made public. To Mr. Brown has been sent the collection of plants, 

 the Rev. Mr. Hope has the insects, and to Professor Owen has been 

 entrusted all the preparations fitted for dissection ; even Mr. Denny 

 has not been neglected. The birds and quadrupeds will be Mr. 

 Gould's peculiar charge, and, if illustrated in a manner similar to 

 that which has been begun, they will prove of the utmost importance 

 to our store of works devoted to the illustration of those depart- 

 ments. This undertaking, of which the first number has just ap- 

 peared, will be published in quarterly parts, uniform in size with the 

 author's previous works, containing seventeen plates each, at a cost of 

 £3 . 3s. The execution of the plates, and the colouring by Bayfield, are 

 both beautiful, and exhibit all the advantages of having been made from 

 drawings taken on the spot. The real form and colours are repre- 

 sented as in the living bird, and the form of the nostrils and various 

 wattles and bare skins, so prevalent among the Australian forms, 



