1 2 REVIEWS. 



forms, causing, at the same time, the loss of the lives of young depending upon 

 the parent birds. Much as writers may object to the battue of game in an over- 

 stocked preserve, yet there is a possible excuse to plead in one case, as game birds 

 are shot at a time when the young are not dependent upon them, and when shot are 

 of value as an article of food. 



"Even were the habits of these birds otherwise than harmless, their wanton de- 

 struction is pitiable, and if a particle of the strictness extended over the care of a 

 few game were used in the prevention of these excesses, all might be remedied, of 

 which, as remarked in a correspondence with Mr. Thompson, the owners of rocky 

 islets and headlands, where those birds frequent to breed, are highly culpable in 

 permitting such slaughter upon their property, places where, in a few years, whole 

 species will be extirpated, and known only as occasional visitants to the island. 

 Having, in many instances, mentioned Lambay as a breeding haunt for sea-fowl, it 

 may not be uninteresting to enumerate the different species which tenant the pre- 

 cipitous eastern side of the island during the season of incubation : — The common 

 and green cormorants, the common and black guillemots, razor-bill, puffin, 

 shearwater, great and lesser black-backed gulls, herring and common gulls, and 

 kittiwakes. 



" Amongst the land-birds which frequent the same face of the rocks, we find the 

 peregrine (rarely of late years), the kestrel, raven, hooded crow, jackdaw, and 

 stare (the chough is also said to nidify in rare instances), the wheatear, window 

 martin, swift, and rock pigeon." 



This last extract is interesting from the fact, that were it not for the 

 murderous attacks made in Lambay and other islands upon the feathered 

 tribe, while preparing their nests, and engaged with the care of their 

 young, we might have a second Bass rock on our Irish coast, and even 

 exceeding it in the variety of its inhabitants. Although we do not wish to 

 be too censorious in our review of this pleasing work, yet we would advise 

 the author to study theology better before hazarding such opinions as those 

 contained in the 64th page. On the whole, we think this volume deserves 

 to be widely circulated, and we heartily recommend it to our readers. It 

 abounds with anecdote, and is written in a popular style. They will find it 

 to be an accurate history of our Irish birds — detailing most of their inte- 

 resting features. The author has availed himself of the continental 

 writers, as well as those of his own country, and has added the synonyms 

 of Temminck to those of LinnaBUS and others. The typography and paper 

 are of the best description, reflecting great credit on the publishers. 



Nereis Boreali Americana ; or, Contributions to a History of the 

 Marine Alg^e of North America. By William Henry Harvey, M.D., 

 M.R.I. A., Keeper of the Herbarium of the University of Dublin, and 

 Professor of Botany to the Royal Dublin Society. Part I. — Melanos- 

 permeaj. Part II. — Rhodospermeae. Published by the Smithsonian 

 Institution, Washington ; and London, Van Voorst. 



These memoirs, from the pen of Dr. Harvey, already so well known to 

 British algologists, by his Manual of British Algce and Phycologia 

 Britannica, will be welcomed by all who are engaged in the study of the 



