466 Anali/iical Notices of Boohs, 



the more common birds, to the collections in which they are re- 

 spectively preserved. From these sources he has brought together 

 a very considerable number of species, which he has carefully 

 described and attentively collated with the chief ornithological 

 works. The doubtful species, and those of uncertain location, are 

 appended at the end of each genus, and the distinction is thus 

 strikingly made between those parts of his System for which Dr. 

 Wagler is himself responsible, and those which rest only on the 

 authority of others. 



Of this valuable work the commencement alone has yet ap- 

 peared. It is without arrangement, but a mode of printing is 

 usually adopted which will enable its possessor hereafter to dis- 

 tribute the genera according to his own views of their affinities. 

 At present it may be regarded as a collection of Monographs, forty- 

 six of which, including the extensive genera^ Picus^ Columba^ 

 Ardea^ and Charadrius^ are given in the first part. It is printed 

 in small type, and iu double columns, and contains as much mat- 

 ter as would have formed a respectable quarto, if the usual mode 

 of displaying synonyms had been had recourse to. One objection- 

 able practice may be pointed out in the frequent changes of generic 

 appellations which occur throughout it. It is surely better, on all 

 occasions, to employ a name which has been universally received, 

 although it may chance to be inapplicable to some species of a 

 genus, than to create confusion by discarding it and by inventing 

 " a new one. 



In his Promiu^n, Dr. Wagler gives a rapid sketch of the pre- 

 sent state of Ornithology, as connected with collections and with 

 the works to which reference is most frequently made. The latter 

 he characterizes with freedom and judgement. He also states that 

 a continuation of his System will appear almost immediately, and 

 that he has ready for publication a natural history of Birds, in 

 which he proposes to explain his views relative to their arrange- 

 ment and affinities. 



