Lauder and Broivrt's Natural History of Parrots, 91 



corrective and additional information may refer it, until a 

 more perfect history can be produced from the materials 

 thus accumulated. 



Lauder, Sir Thomas Dick, Bart. F.R.S.E. and Brown, Capt. 

 Thomas, F.L.S. : The Natural History of Parrots, Vol. I., 

 illustrated by 35 plates, coloured; with a biographical 

 sketch and portrait of Audubon. Small 8vo, 170 pages. 

 Edinburgh, London, and Dublin, 1833. 6s, 



The contents of the volume are, a chapter on the physical 

 characters of parrots, a chapter on the intellectual and imita- 

 tive faculties of parrots, a chapter on the geographical distri- 

 bution of parrots, and, then, descriptions and coloured figures 

 of thirty-five species of parrots. At the end of the volume are 

 illustrations of the terminology used in describing birds ; at the 

 beginning, a portrait and a biographical sketch of Audubon. 



In the commencement of the enumeration of physical cha- 

 racters, " the toe of the parrot is made to tread" somewhat 

 " too near the heel of the courtier ;" for there is grave talking 

 about an analogical connection in structure between man, 

 monkeys, and parrots. The rest of the " physical characters,*' 

 although they are not sorted into the most orderly succession, 

 nor unclogged with some repetitions which betray crudity, are 

 worthy of regard, and of a proportion of the book's price. 



The dissertation on the " intellectual and imitative facul- 

 ties of parrots," we leave to — to whom ? — It may be dis- 

 respectful to our grandams to say. 



The *' geographical distribution of parrots" is inane enough. 

 In the pictures, prodigious capacity of claws is given to some 

 of the birds ; most of them grasp, as a perch, a tree with 

 ease. Plates 14. 9. 29., and some few others, are more con- 

 sistent with common sense in this particular. It is needful 

 that the reader pay attention to the dimensions of each bird 

 as set down in the text; for, in the pictures, one of 6 in. in 

 length is pretty well of the same magnitude as one of 2J ft. 

 or 3 ft. Birds have great versatility of neck, we know ; and 

 we presume that plate 13. is an illustration of an extreme 

 instance of this versatility. 



Various Contributors : The Entomological Magazine. In Quar- 

 terly Numbers, each 3s. 6d., containing 104 or more Svo 

 pages, and four of the five numbers published, a plate of 

 figures each. 



No. v., Oct. 1833, was not sent us in time to be noticed 

 in our last; it has been too long before the world to be 

 noticed in detail now. It is a richly stored number, of great 

 value to every naturalist, and of extreme value to entomolo- 



