REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. Ill 



the lucid and excellent manner in which our author conveys his instruction to 

 his readers: — • 



" The numerical results, which will be given in a subsequent table, will bear us out in the 

 assertion, that the Western Ornithology is fully as different from the Northern, as this latter is 

 from the southern. There are, nevertheless, many points of resemblance between the birds of 

 Senegal and those of the southern districts, which serve to connect them without diminishing those 

 peculiar features which each possess. This union is effected by the migratory species of Western 

 Africa, several of which annually take their flight southward, and return to Senegal after a tem- 

 porary residence on the plains of Southern Africa. This fact was conjectured by Le Vaillant' 

 and it is fully confirmed by our own investigations, drawn from the specimens that have been re. 

 cently imported from Senegal and Senegambia. Hitherto this fact only regards the splendid 

 genus Lamprotornis, which may be called the African Starlings ; but future information will, no 

 doubt, show us, that a southern migration takes place in other instances. It may be questioned' 

 however, whether any of the Senegal birds go northward, excepting those more peculiar to the 

 banks of the Gambia, which are likewise found in Britain, and the two or three species of perchers^ 

 formerly noticed as extending to Northern Africa and Central Europe.* Adanson asserts, that 

 our House Swallow is the same as that of Senegal ; but we have no means of judging the accuracy 

 of the statement. 



" The first peculiarity that strikes us in contemplating the Ornithology of Senegal, is the 

 great preponderance of richly-coloured birds. Now this circumstance may be accounted for in 

 two ways. Either it is the result of commercial speculation among the dealers, who imagine that 

 such birds will find a better market in Europe than those of a more homely plumage ; or it is a 

 real peculiarity, and therefore arising from natural laws. We believe this latter to be the true 

 reason. In the following pages we shall have to describe a very considerable number of plain 

 coloured species, which would certainly not have been transmitted with the more attractive sorts, 

 had not variety been consulted by the dealers, in what they call their ' assortment,' as much as 

 beauty. In the second place, this splendour of plumage is in unison with that law, which renders 

 the productions of Nature more rich and luxuriant, whether in growth or colours, in proportion 

 as the countries they inhabit approximate the equinoctial line. This we find in the splendid va- 

 riety of birds on the opposite coast of America, and in those far more magnificent races which 

 inhabit the torrid islands of the Indian Ocean. The forests of Parra contain the most splendid 

 of all the Brazilian birds, while it will be remembered that the whole of the Paradise birds are 

 restricted to New Guinea, and the little isles of Aro and Banda in the Malayan seas. 



************ 



" Senegal appears the chief metropolis of the Widah Finches, the males of which, during the 

 breeding season, are decorated with very long feathers in their tail ; out of this species four are 

 natives of this country, — while the splendid Lamprotorni, although dispersed as far as the Cape, 

 appear to make Senegal their true place of residence. The Sun-birds are certainly more abun- 

 dant here than in the south, while their range appears not to extend so far as the Barbary coast : 

 they represent the Humming-birds of the New World, and seem, like them, to congregate most 

 in those countries which are the hottest. The distribution of these charming birds, in a longitu- 

 dinal direction, extends only to the Cape, but is spread laterally to India and its islands ; they 

 disappear very suddenly towards the limits of Northern Africa, since only one species appears to 

 have been met with by Ruppell." — p. 100. 



But as our extracts from the introduction have already exceeded all reasonable 

 extent, and as we can but ill spare room for lengthened quotations, we must pass 



* Mtropt Europxut. 



