334 CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



saw it turned to such account, or made to bear so admira- 

 bly on the natural classification of birds. The whole of Mr. 

 Swainson's pages evidently bear the stamp of originality, and the 

 observations contained in this section of his book should be atten- 

 tively perused by the student. Indeed, such is the novelty of the 

 light that our author has shed on this topic, that even the most ex- 

 perienced ornithologist will be considerably benefitted by a know- 

 ledge of them, and will feel surprised that the external anatomy of 

 birds had not before been investigated with the attention it deserves. 

 The following quotation from one of the chapters on this subject 

 will give our readers a favourable idea of Mr. Swainson's observa- 

 tions on the habits of birds. 



"A greal deal has been written, and now rendered familiar to every one 

 by our cheap compilations, on the powers of sight in the Falconine tribes ; 

 but those ot the Swallow seem to have been quite overlooked. It is, never- 

 theless, difficult to say which is the most astounding, the far-sightedness of 

 the former, or the instantaneous and complicated discernment of the latter. 

 The Swallow is proverbially the swiftest flier in the feathered creation ; and 

 yet, in the full career of its course, it is entirely intent upon quite another 

 object than that of flight. While darting through the air at the rate of 

 three miles a minute, it is looking on the right-hand and on the left, side- 

 ways, upwards, and downwards, for its food. The insects it preys upon are 

 often exceedingly minute — sometimes flying above or below the level of the 

 Swallow's flight; and yet they are seen, captured, and swallowed, without 

 any diminution of the prodigious rate at which the bird is flying; nay, 

 more, any one who attentively watches the Swallow skimming over a mea- 

 dow in summer will perceive that it will capture two, or even three, insects 

 in such quick succession as to convince us the bird must have had them in 

 his eye, to use a colloquial expression, all at once, and that the whole are 

 caught and swallowed in as many moments. The faculty of vision, in short, 

 in these birds is fully as much developed as in the Falcons, although in a very 

 different way ; the one being long and the other <7w/c/:-sighted, and both to a 

 degree perfectly unexampled in the animal creation." — p. 46. 



The next topic discussed is the song of birds ; our limits will 

 not permit an analysis of this section, but we may mention that we 

 think the cause assigned by our author for giving such a peculiarity 

 of voice to birds is the real one. 



Proceeding onwards, we find a general survey of the nidification 

 of birds, which Mr. Swainson, as usual, turns to good account as 

 regards classification ; but we marvel greatly that the interesting 

 subject of oology should have been so completely overlooked. In 

 many cases the eggs form a good index to the natural affinities of 

 birds, as lias been observed by Linneus, Lewin, Hewitson, and 

 others; though implicit reliance cannot, of course, be placed on 

 such a basis. Whilst on the subject of nests, it may be as well to 

 correct our author's notion that the Fieldfare Thrush does not breed 

 in companies, which has been proved to be the case by the observa- 

 tions of Mr. Hewitson. 



Part II. is devoted to the bibliography, nomenclature, and pre- 

 servation of birds, a chapter being occupied with each of these 

 heads. In the first the reader is informed which are the most valu- 



