CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 427 



The second bird of whose name I am ignorant is another of the lark 

 family, and which is much more common, having met with it every 

 summer except the present, for many years past. It is an emigrant, 

 arriving in April, and after breeding, retires from its usual haunts about 

 October. It nestles atnong field peas in the country; and near London 

 it may frequently be seen among dwarf fruit trees which have been 

 headed down in the public nurseries. At a distance it may easily be 

 mistaken for the yellow wagtail, its action and call being very similar. 

 But it is a much smaller bird, and the tail is considerably shorter; and 

 as near as can be, about the size and shape of the titlark. Never having 

 had one in my hand, I can say nothing of the length of the hind spur, 

 the distinguished mark of the lark family. But no bird is easier detected 

 than this ; the shrill and incessant call of the male may be easily heard 

 by any intruder within five hundred yards of the nest. Its note is that 

 of alarm ; and exceedingly restless, flitting from place to place, apparently 

 in a state of great uneasiness. The front of the neck and breast is bright 

 yellow ; back, upper part of the wings, and tail, olive brown. I have 

 often pointed out this bird to persons* well versed in the knowledge of 

 them, but they invariably called it the yellow wagtail ; although they 

 admitted that the latter is seldom met with far from water. I never saw 

 the nest nor eggs of this bird, as they generally choose the thickest 

 patches of the crop to nestle in, and at some distance from hedges or 

 trees : — being certainly a ground bird. 



In one old book I have seen a yellow lark described ; but this is dropped 

 by modern writers, at least, as far as my reading goes. 



Yours, truly, 



QUERIST. 



CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



Philanthropic Economy, or the Philosophy of Happiness, practically applied 

 to the Social, Political, and Commercial Relations of Great Britain. 

 By Mrs. Loudon. Churton, London, 1835. 



The most striking peculiarity in this volume is the subject chosen by a 

 FEMALE, of some repute, it is true, as a writer of elegant fiction, but 

 " Political Economy" is so very dissimilar in all respects to works of 

 imagination, and is a science so intricate and complex even to deep- 

 thinking men, that we were really astonished to find a lady possessed of 

 sufficient courage to enter the lists in so disputatious and perilous a field. 



There are many persons, well educated and well-disposed persons too, 

 who have been deterred from approaching almost any subject connected 

 with the general weal, by the too prevailing opinion that the science of poli- 

 tical economy is something quite distinct from religion, morality, or phi- 

 lanthropy, something too speculative to be practical, too intricate to be 

 understood, or too dull to be endured. To render this subject compre- 

 hensible to all descriptions of people, to obviate the unmeaning antipa- 

 thies of many whose object is benevolence, and to spare them the ar- 

 duous task of pursuing scientific deductions through ponderous volumes, 

 or collecting scattered proofs from innumerable sources, in search 

 of a knowledge of what are the exertions which they are called on by 

 benevolence to make, is avowed to be the ostensible and laudable purport 



* Among others, the late Mr. Sweet, author of " The British Warblers." 

 July, 1835. — VOL. ii. no. xii. 3 k 



