' Birds of Europe not observed in the British Isles' 81 



IX. — Review of Mr. Breeds ' Birds of Europe not observed in 

 the British Isles.'^ 



It is a matter of great regret that the ornithology of Europe 

 has been hitherto so Httle studied by British naturahsts. This 

 fact has always been regarded with wonder by our continental 

 brethren, — very naturally, too, when they think that of the 

 troops of tourists who annually swarm over Europe, how vast 

 a majority are our fellow-countrymen, and reflect that in 

 England the study of Natural History is scarcely pursued but 

 by amateurs for their own gratification. We confess that it is 

 not easy to account for this. Perhaps the chief cause is the 

 comparative rarity with which birds present themselves on the 

 Continent. How often, when questioning a friend just returned 

 from his summer's trip to Holland, up the Rhine, or among the 

 Alps — or, it may be from exploring the passes of the Pyrenees, 

 the cones of Mount Etna, or the fjelds of Norway — as to what he 

 may have observed of the feathered tribes during his rambles, 

 has the answer been, "0, there are no birds abroad!" and thus 

 it has come to be believed that the Continent is nearly as unavi- 

 ferous as Lake Avernus itself ! Yet the birds are there, if tra- 

 vellers will but look for them, and birds, too, possessing great 

 interest even to those ornithologists who confine their attention 

 solely to the species found within the compass of the four seas. 

 But we trust that a spirit of more extended research is growing 

 up, that soon the continental reproach may be taken away, and 

 that our fellow-countrymen, as regards Natural History, may 

 no longer be sneered at as " penitus toto divisos orbe Britannos." 

 The Englishman is catholic enough in his other sympathies : he 

 knows to a nicety the points wherein St. Peter's surpasses St. 

 Paul's, can compare the merits of York Minster and Cologne 

 Cathedral, has an opinion of his own as to the best means of pre- 

 serving the faded remains of Leonardo da Vinci's master-piece, 

 just as he has with regard to the right mode, if any, of restoring 

 the national pictures in Trafalgar Square; he pronounces au- 



* A History of the Birds of Europe not observed in the British Isles, illus- 

 trated with accurately-coloured Plates. By C. R. Bree, Esq. London: 

 Groombridge and Sons. [In course of publication.] 



VOL. I. (J 



