294 Recent Ornithological Publications. 



ference to animal life which is sometimes attributed to the 

 sportsman. Her Black Guillemot is caught on the nest^and, 

 when he has stood for his portrait^ is kindly restored to his 

 family. Though advantage is taken of the Sandpiper^s maternal 

 devotion to entrap her, for a time, into a cage where her brood 

 has been already placed, yet all are retui'ned unharmed to their 

 free home. If the gardener, in protecting his gooseberries, is 

 allowed to shoot the Ring-Ouzels, the Willow- Warblers find a 

 kind protectress. Even the Heron who has given us his por- 

 trait, and was captured in a hard frost, was returned, after being 

 indulged with a fortnight's fishing in a foot-pail in the College 

 of Glasgow, to the place whence he had been taken, so soon as 

 the mild weather set in. We have heard young ladies, who 

 would have regarded ornithology as a rude, masculine pursuit, 

 fit only for their sportsmen brothers, inquire with interest the 

 best mode of annihilating beautiful butterfly-life, and we have 

 seen them impale beetles without a shudder. Many of our fair 

 friends will recount the whole flora of their county, while they 

 know not the difi*erence between a Finch and a Warbler. To 

 such we commend Mrs. Blackburn's sketches as an example of 

 what a lady may do without either gun or bird-butchery ; and we 

 take leave of our authoress with the sincere hope that the appre- 

 ciation of the public may encourage her to continue her truthful 

 series of ' Birds Drawn from Nature.' 



2. German Publications. 



Herr Badeker's oological work*, to the utility of which we 

 have frequently borne witness, has attained its seventh number. 

 It is stated that Dr. A. Brehm has received from two naturalists 

 in Spain, MM. Villanova and Graells, information corrobo- 

 rating the account he formerly gave (^ Journ. f. Ornith,' 1853, 

 p. 144, and ' Zoologist,' xi. p. 3987) of the parasitic nesting- 

 habits of Oxylophus glandarius, and to the accuracy of which 

 some of our friends have been disposed to demur [' Ibis,' 1859, 

 pp. 79 and 316). In Spain, the Common Magpie {Pica cau- 

 data) has generally the doubtful honour of being chosen to act 



Die Eier der Europaisclien Vogel, &c. 



