[ 79] 



REVIEWS. 



Birds : The Elements of Ornithology. By vSr. C.i.oio.i; Mivart. 

 F.R.S. Ivondoii : R. II. rortcr, 1S92, 



Mr. Mivart's book may briefly be descriljed as about the most com- 

 prehensive science-primer which the student of ornitholoj^y is likely to 

 have met w^ith. Its opening pages, indeed, scarcely prejjarc one to ex- 

 pect this characteristic. Nearly the first half of the volume consists of 

 a copiously illustrated introduction, in which, beginning with the Com- 

 mon Fowl, our author passes in rapid review more than 200 species of 

 birds, 140 of the kind referred to being also figured from original 

 drawings. Though this chapter has in truth little apparent connection 

 with the rest of the treatise, and is professedly written with a view to 

 enabling the student to ol)tain a mental grasp of the outlines of Cuvier's 

 arrangement of birds, it is not easy to regret the adoption of a course 

 which has certainly embellished the volume, and contributed one popular 

 chapter to a strictly scientific work. Still the reader who has gone to Mr. 

 Mivart in due ignorance of Cuvier's classification will be somewhat i)er- 

 plexed at finding himself required to learn, and retain in memory, for 

 convenience' sake, to the end of the book, a system, against which he is at 

 the same time gravely cautioned is not only superficial but obsolete. Here 

 and there, in the course of this chapter, one drops on amusing instances 

 of the modern tendency to speculation. Thus, in explanation of the 

 remarkable habit acquired by the Kea Parrot {Nestor notabilis) of New 

 Zealand, which, since the introduction of sheep into that colony, has 

 taken to carnivorous practices, alighting on the helpless animal's back, 

 and eating down into its kidneys, Mr. Mivart tenders the curious sug- 

 gestion (due, it appears, to the ingenuity of Dr. H. Woodward, F.R.S. ), 

 that this parrot, in pre-colonial days, was used to prey in similar fashion 

 on the now extinct Dinornis ! 



The remaining chapters deal respectively with the external structure, 

 internal skeleton, development, geographical distribution, and classifica- 

 tion of birds. In the last-named department, Mr. Mivart seems to have 

 been fortunate in securing the important assistance of Dr. R. Bowdlcr 

 Sharpe, whom, indeed, we are asked to regard as responsible for the 

 entire arrangement of the 53 families of Passeres. The arrangement of 

 the orders is as follow^s :— (i) Passeriformes, (2) Coraciiformes, (3) Picifor- 

 mes, (4) Coccyges, (5) Columbiformes, (6) Psittaci, (7) Raptores, (8) Ste- 

 ganopodes, (9) Herodiones, (10) Alectorides, (11) Galliformes, (12) Lmii- 

 coliformes, (13) Tubinares, (14) Pygopodiformes, (15) Lamelhrostres, 

 (16) Impennes, (17) Crypturi, (18) Struthiones. The position of priority 

 in the whole class is assigned to the Rook, dimly recognizable as To" 

 panocoraxfrn^ilcgus. A little carelessness is noticeable in that part of the 

 work dealing with geographical distribution. For example, INIr. INIivart 

 makes (on pp. 117, 244, and 248) three statements respecting the range ol 

 the Pycnonotidae, each of which contradicts both the others. But sucli 

 occasional symptoms of hasty writing will not seriously detract from the 

 value of this interesting and welcome publication. ^ ^ ^^ 



