REVIEWS OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 281 



one day sitting at the side of an old wall, reading a book, a Carrion Crow flew over my head, with 

 an egg in its bill. I halloed, and down dropped the egg into the middle of the field. On going 

 \o take it up, I found, to my astonishment, that it was whole. It was the egg of the Common 

 Wild Duck. 



" The Carrion Crow is very easily tamed, and is strongly attached to the person who brings 

 him up. I once kept one for two years and a half. It flew round about the neighbourhood, and 

 roosted every night on the trees of my shrubbery. At whatever distance he was, as soon as he 

 heard my voice he came to me. He was fond of being caressed, but should any one except my- 

 self stroke him on the head or back, he was sure to make the blood spring from their fingers. He 

 seemed to take a very great delight in pecking the heels of barefooted youths. The more terrified 

 they were, the more did his joy seem to increase. Even the heels of my pointers, when he was 

 in his merry mood, did not escape his art of ingeniously tormenting. His memory was astonish- 

 ing. One Monday morning, after being satiated with food, he picked up a Mole which was lying 

 in the orchard, and hopped with it into the garden. I kept out of his sight, and he seldom con- 

 cealed any thing when he thought you observed him. He covered it so nicely with earth, that, 

 after the most diligent search, I could not discover where he had put it. As his wings had been 

 cut to prevent him from flying over the wall into the garden, he made many a fruitless attempt 

 during the week to get in at the door. On Saturday evening, however, it having been left open, 

 I saw him hop to the very spot where the Mole had been so long hid, and, to my surprise, he 

 came out with it in the twinkling of an eye." — p. 5S7. 



On the whole, we have every reason to be pleased with the full and generally 

 accurate manner in which the History before us is written. It contains much 

 that is new both in matter and manner, and if, in perusing the volume, a few 

 trifling blemishes or errors have met our eyes, they are not such as to lessen the 

 value of the work as a manual of native Ornithology. We are certain that 

 much labour has been bestowed on it, and it is a production which reflects no 

 small credit on the industry and ability of the Edinburgh naturalist. 



We should have liked to have seen a wood-cut of each bird, in order that the 

 student might have been enabled to identify the various species at a glance ; and 

 could have wished that more care had been taken with the figures of some of 

 the heads. For the most part, however, the cuts and engravings are admirable. 

 The volume contains some observations on the external anatomy of the feathered 

 class. For a specimen of the manner in which he has treated this subject, we 

 refer to an article by the same writer " on the external apparatus of the wings of 

 birds," in our current volume, p. 13 (No. vn., for April). 



A History of British Birds. By William Yarrell, F.L.S., Sec. Z.S. Il- 

 lustrated by a wood-cut of each species, and numerous vignettes. London : John 

 Van Voorst. Part I. July, 1837. 8vo. and Royal 8vo. pp. 48. 



Having but just dismissed what we consider a valuable treatise on British 

 Ornithology, we might have been somewhat at a loss how to deal with the work 

 now under consideration, were it not that its whole style, both as regards letter- 

 press, wood-cuts, and paper and print, are so excellent, that we are compelled to 

 declare that this will probably be the most complete History of British Birds ever 

 offered to the public, and it is published at so moderate a price too, as to be within 



