8G THE FEATHERED TRIBES OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. 



worths " be abstracted from his own redundant treasury. The purchasei* 

 of the offendinfr morgeau is not at all likely to become the purchaser of 

 Mr. Mudie's elegant, highly embeUished, and comparatively expensive 

 publication ; on the other hand, the affluent reader will not be deterred 

 from procuring, at the cost of a few shillings, the undiminished gratifica- 

 tion of the work in its original state ; and it may be surmised that the 

 distinguished compliment paid to an author, in the selection of his 

 writings for the purpose of extract, should reconcile him to their dis- 

 memberment for the good of the less opulent, but equally intelligent 

 part of the community. 



Before concluding our notice of this fascinating work, we may point 

 attention to a few typographic inaccuracies which it will be well to correct 

 in the future edition which, we have no doubt, will be, speedily, called for. 

 We would, also, remark, that an unusual distance intervening between 

 the substantive and verb, in page 283, vol. i., produces a somewhat 

 ludicrous effect. The sentence stands thus — " The bird (the dipper or 

 water ouzel) halts on the beach, and forward he rushes hat in hand for 

 the captive." (!) This appears to imply that the bird thus strangely 

 accoutred was intent on making a prisoner, and for some moments we 

 were at a loss to account for the very extraordinary feat on the part of 

 the '* feathered biped," but the enigma was solved at length, and we 

 discovered that "stranger" was the origmal nominative to the verb 

 "rushes." Unfortunately for the perspicuity of the narration, the 

 ** stranger" lingers nearly a page from the paragraph quoted : the 

 pronoun had in this case better give way to the noun, for which it is the 

 substitute ; we should then learn, at once, that the ** dipper " was the 

 captive intended, and the ** stranger" the captor. In the task of 

 revision, the consequent interlineations, omissions, exchanges, &c. &c. 

 are so liable to occasion small oversights in works the most studiously 

 composed, that it is almost impossible to escape without blemish. 



The illustrative plates, it is affirmed, " may be depended upon for 

 fidelity and accuracy of tint," and we are happy to bear additional 

 evidence in their favour. Of these there are sixty-four, delineating the 

 birds most remarkable and interesting. With the exception of eleven, 

 which are very beautifully executed in wood, they are tastefully and 

 spiritedly etched, with a few finishing strokes from the graver ; they are 

 also elaborately coloured, but here their principal recommendation must 

 consist in their truth ; the vivid hues of the gayer-plumaged bird 

 detached from a landscape, being apt to glare on the eye from the want 

 of corrective accessories. The vignettes, which afford specimens of 

 printing in colours from wooden blocks, are singular examples of ** what 

 may be called Polychromatic printing.'* So far as they go, they are curious 

 indications of what may, one day, be attained in the art ; but the 

 difficulties to bs surmounted before a perfectly satisfactory impression 

 can be procured, have not as yet been overcome. Mr. Baxter s perse- 

 verance and ingenuity will, probably, mature the attempt, although we 

 are decidedly of opinion that no mechanical agency can ever supersede 

 the hand of the skilful colourist in the estimate of the true connoisseur. 



C. L. E. P. 



