340 OBITUARY. 



it ?' ' Give it to the Cat, to be mure ; for you zee the varmer says as how the birds eat his corn 

 and fruit, and he is 'termined to kill them all, and he tell we boys he will gie us a penny vor 

 every nest as we takes him with young 'uns ; but as Tom grabbed me the other birds, I doubt 

 he'll on'y gie I a hap'ny.' 'Ask Farmer Stubbs if he would like any one to take his 

 children away from him ?' The boy replied, grinning — • he ha'nt got none, — he beant mar- 

 ried.' ' So much the worse ; if he were a parent he would have more feeling, and perhaps 

 not grudge those interesting birds the small modicum they purloin from his abundance.' After 

 reprimanding the boy for the misery he had occasioned the parent birds as well as the young, he 

 very innocently asked me if they could feel. He paid he knew they felt if he hurt them, but 

 that was not what he meant — could they feel sorry, as he sometimes did if his brother or sister 

 were ill? After explaining to him that those little creatures were as susceptible of pleasure or 

 pain as ourselves, I had the satisfaction of seeing that he felt pleased and grateful for the trou- 

 ble I had taken to convince, him begging me to take the poor little bird, and save it from the 

 claws of Varmer Stubbs^s Cat. " — p. 69. 



The Language of Birds will probably induce many to look further into Nature's 

 wonders and beauties than they would otherwise have done, and it will please 

 many more who will feel no desire to penetrate deeper in the subject. It will, 

 therefore, be an indirect means of furthering Natural History. Its faults, in our 

 opinion, are, that it contains too little matter fresh from the woods and fields, 

 and that the fair writer has fallen into some errors which the possession of such a 

 work as Selby's British Ornithology, or almost any other modern authority, 

 would have prevented. We wish to see correct information, originality, and 

 cheapness, combined in these popular books, which are always sure to be eagerly 

 devoured by a considerable number of juvenile readers. Some may be inclined to 

 censure us for paying so much attention to the little volume before us. But we 

 reply, that it may be the means of making more naturalists, and, indirectly, of 

 advancing Natural History in a greater degree, than many elaborate scientific 

 works. 



LITERARY NOTICE. 



The twenty-second Part of Gould's magnificent Birds of Europe, completing 

 the work, was published on the first of August. 



OBITUARY. 



An inspection of the last number of the Magazine of Zoology and Botany, edited 

 by Sir W. Jardine, Bart., P. J. Selby, Esq., and Dr. Johnston, has enabled us 

 to supply the date of the demise of Mr. Donovan, who departed this life Feb. 1, 

 1837, thus dying only two days before Dr. Latham. 



