82 Mr. liree's ' Birds of Europe 



tboi'itatively between Mr. Wailes's stained glass and that of 

 Munich ; would be nearly as soon accused of a false quantity as 

 of mistaking Dresden china for Sevres; or, if of a less aesthetic 

 turn of mind^ can tell you, without referring to his " Murray," 

 the population of Hamburg or Naples within an odd hundred, 

 the height of the Hospice of St. Bernard above the sea, the 

 depth of the Fall of Terni or the length of the Loire. All these 

 he is conversant with ; and, as regards the natural history of his 

 native islands, the British ornithologist might be able to tell 

 you which of the western counties never re-echo the notes of the 

 Nightingale, at what elevation the haunts of the Ptarmigan 

 begin in Scotland, or whether the Jay ever visits Ireland. But 

 ask the same man whether he considers Falco concolor a Euro- 

 pean species, or if he can describe the differences between Frin- 

 gilla hispaniolensis and F. cisalpina, and he will stare as much as 

 if he were being submitted to a competitive examination by the 

 Civil Service Commissioners. In fact, M. Temminck^s ' Manuel 

 d'Ornithologie' is nearly the only work on the birds of Europe 

 (for Mr. Gould's splendid publication deters the general public 

 by its expense) the existence of which English naturalists* com- 

 monly recognize ; and their practical knowledge of this book 

 has been chiefly confined to the accounts of those species which 

 are found in their own islands. It was therefore with no small 

 satisfaction that we first heard of Mr. C. R. Bree's intention to 

 publish that which forms the subject of the present notice, be- 

 lieving, as we do, that it is impossible to get a right notion of 

 even our indigenous birds, without those illustrations which 

 a knowledge, more or less extensive, of the ornithology of the 

 Continent alone can furnish. We do not wish it for a moment 

 to be thought that we undervalue the labours of those ornitho- 

 logists who have confined their writings to the elucidation of those 

 species only which occur in the British Isles. Our Pennants, 

 Montagus and Bewicks, our Yarrells, Thompsons and Macgil- 

 livrays are, and will justly continue to be, held in high estimation ; 



* We beg to be understood, that throughout this article we shall use this 

 and the similar terms of 'ornithologist ' and 'zoologist' in the widest sense 

 possible, comprehending in it every one whose tastes or profession render 

 him partial to the study of Natural History. 



