Notices and Analyses. 323 



of method, which some persons may find pleasant in perusing the 

 work, but which renders it less useful to him who searches in it for 

 scientific information. In fact, Mr Audubon seems to have addressed 

 himself more particularly to the general reader, than to the student 

 of zoology ; and to the former we should conceive the work must be 

 highly acceptable, more especially as it contains, in the form of 

 distinct sketches, interspersed at regular intervals, a good deal of 

 interesting information respecting the scenery and inhabitants of the 

 American States, those receptacles of the superabundant population 

 of Europe. As the author has announced his intention of producing 

 a general synopsis of the birds of North America, a work, the exe- 

 cution of which will afford a better test of his ornithological know- 

 ledge, we may expect in it the anatomical details and scientific 

 oi'dinations which have been excluded from the present work. The 

 style, some specimens of which will be found in our Zoologiccd 

 Collections, is easy, generally graceful, often lively, and never of that 

 dull and formal character into which naturalists, destitute of imagina- 

 tion, are apt to run. In short, we have perused the work with 

 much pleasure, and congratulate its author upon his having so 

 successfully established his claim to rank as an ornithologist, after 

 having already enjoyed so splendid a reputation as a painter. The 

 present volume is the first of a series of five, which will be necessary 

 to include all the species of birds that occur in the United States, 

 and of which Mr Audubon has himself been the discoverer of a 

 considerable number previously unnoticed. 



..fiommA lo '-^htiflmb \rjU\f(t^ ^imW ^di nil 

 ^ A'merican'Orftithotogyl or the NatiiT^al-'H of the Birds 



of the United States. By Alexander Wilson, and CnyVRLES 

 LuciAN Bonaparte. Edited by Robert Jameson, Esq. F.R.S. 

 E. & L. F.L.S. M.W.S. &c. In four volumes. Vol. I. Con- 

 stable. Edinburgh, 1831. 



The publication of Wilson's classical work in Constable's Miscellany 

 is a happy idea, and we congratulate the publishers on their good 

 taste. Great parade has, however, been made of the advantages 

 which would be derived from the supeiintendence of the learned 

 editor ; and however little disappointment we have experienced in 

 the examination of this first volume, we cannot but remark with 

 surprise that it contains but one meagre " note," or " addition." It 

 must be remembered, that the following preparatory engagement was 

 entered into by the publishers of this reprint long enough prior to the 

 appearance of this first volume, to admit of the partial fulfilment of their 

 undertaking. " This edition," say the oft-repeated advertisements, 

 " will be increased in value by numerous additions and improvements 

 by Professor Jameson." But we suspend any remarks until we see 

 the last volume, and run the risk of an Appendix. 



All that is claimed for the editor in the preface to this portion of the 

 work, is the scientific arrangement' of the descriptions, (the original 

 edition having been published as Wilson could prociu'e specimens of 

 the birds, and, consequently, without any regard to order,) and refe- 

 rences to the American birds contained in the Edinburgh University 

 Museum, which, it is hoped by the publishers, will render their 

 work a sort of guide to that department of the collection. 



These gentlemen seem to have got an idea, (and in truth it is a very 

 natural one,) that access to this " splendid cabinet of natural history " 

 is as easy as the purchase of their delightful work ; but we can assure 



