Recent Ornithological Publications. 293 



which individualizes the interest with which we examine the 

 plates. In the execution of the lithographs there is occasionally 

 a little too much sharpness in the lines of the plumage, as in the 

 Blue Tits, but this minor fault does not detract from the general 

 life-like tone of the drawing. A hypercritical friend of ours 

 has objected to the undulating curve in the neck of the Common 

 Sandpiper ; but as the bird was drawn from a living specimen in 

 a cage, and as we have observed the Godwit assume the same 

 posture, we will not dispute Mrs. Blackburn's accuracy. The 

 nest placed in a bank is an unusual locality for a Sandpiper; 

 but since we ourselves once knew of a Snipe building in a goose- 

 berry bush, when a flood had lodged a quantity of straw and 

 weeds on its lower branches, we cannot see much difficulty in 

 the circumstance. 



The second plate, the '' Solan Geese Fishing,^' is very spirited, 

 and represents a scene not before engraved, though well de- 

 scribed by Mr. Couch in his 'Fauna of Cornwall.' We have 

 watched the birds drop in this manner under the bows of a yacht 

 while at anchor in the Bay of Tangiers, and, after pursuing their 

 prey under water, emerge with it at the other side of the vessel. 

 Among the most spirited sketches in the volume are those of 

 the Common Guillemot (where Mrs. Blackburn has admirably 

 caught the startled and confused attitude of the bird, w'hen 

 suddenly surprised by a boat), the callow nestlings and eggs of 

 the Black Guillemot, and the shivering and half-benumbed 

 Redwing. The Hedge-Sparrow threads his way through a 

 thorn-bush with the gentle ease of secure familiai'ity ; and the 

 family party of Whinchats, with the father balancing himself on 

 the top of a bunch of furze-blossom, is admirable. The authoress 

 wishes us good-night with an appropriate scene — a group of 

 Herons on Lochiel. The tide is coming in; it is scarcely time 

 to commence fishing, and the Herons while away the idle half- 

 hour in a characteristic group on a bed of shingle, assuming the 

 various easy postm-es of Heron-life. 



We cannot conclude this short notice of Mrs. Hugh Black- 

 burn's drawings without a remark on the genuine and delicate 

 humanity, which shows how keenly a lady may pursue the study 

 of ornithology without acquiring any of the unfeminine indif- 



VOL. IV. X 



