CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



has been assisted in his undertaking by Mr. H. C. Watson, Mr. W, 

 Wilson, Mr. W. A. Leighton, Dr. Murray, Mr. W. Pamlin, Mr. 

 Beevis, Mr. Castles, and the Rev. W. T. Bree, and we must consi- 

 der the book a most valuable and acceptable addition to this depart- 

 ment of our native plants. With this volume we have also received 

 an excellent tabular Catalogue of British Flopjering Plants and 

 Ferns, by the same author. We are by no means surprised to find 

 that it has reached its third edition. 



A Synopsis of the Birds of Australia and the adjacent Islands. By 

 John Gould, F.L.S., &c. Part I., coloured or plain. January, 

 1837- London : Published by the Author, 20, Broad-street, 

 Golden-square. 



Numerous and important as have been the ornithological works 

 of Mr. Gould, we are glad to find him persevering in his course of 

 usefulness ; and perhaps the present publication, of which the part 

 on our table is the commencement, will yield in value and excel- 

 lence to none of his other undertakings. The scientific ornitholo- 

 gist must be especially obliged to him for illustrating the birds of a 

 country in which, comparatively, so Jittle has hitherto been done in 

 the same line. Lewin's Birds of New Holland is valuable as far as 

 it goes, but is extremely deficient as regards the number of species it 

 describes, and, with the exception of a memoir by Mr. Vigors and 

 Dr. Horsfield, in the fifteenth volume of the Linnean Transactions, 

 that is the only work on the subject with which we are acquainted. 

 The field Mr. Gould has now chosen for his labours is one of great 

 interest and importance in an ornithological point of view, and 

 abounds in forms remarkable for their beauty and interest. In the 

 present Synopsis we have a concise and masterly description of each 

 species, with synonyms, &c. ; and a drawing of the head is, in every 

 case, given, with occasionally the wings and other parts supplied in 

 outline. These plates — which may be had either coloured or plain, 

 according to the taste or resources of the student — are satisfactory in 

 every respect, and are, unquestionably, the best of the kind we have 

 seen. 



We think it would not have been amiss to have supplied the Eng- 

 lish names of the birds described. To those who have not enjoyed 

 the •' benefits of a sound classical education" — and the number of 

 these is yearly increasing — such names as Ocypterus albovittatus, 

 Neomorpha crassirostris, &c., however familiar to the ears of the 

 initiated, must appear strangely uncouth to those *' honest folk" who 

 are debarred the advantages of college instruction. We cannot 

 agree with the naturalists who wish to exclude Latin names alto- 

 gether any more than we are disposed to •' chime in" with those 

 who declare the English designations to be useless. On the con- 

 trary, we are inclined to compromise the matter, and unite the two 

 languages so as to suit all tastes, and of course this plan cannot fail 

 to facilitate the study. Indeed, the method we advocate is so ge- 



