ON THE PROGRESS AND PRESENT STATE OF ORNITHOLOGY. 201 



de'LitteratidiPisa ;' 'Memorie della Academiadelle Scienzedi Torino;' ' Atti 

 dell'Academia Gioenia de Catania;' 'Journal of ihe Academy of Natural 

 Sciences of Philadelphia;' 'Annals of the Lyceum of Natural History of 

 New York ;' ' Transactions of the American Philosophical Society,' and many 

 others. 



Of recent works specially devoted to the description and illustration of new 

 objects of zoology in general or of ornithology in particular, the following 

 British ones may be mentioned : — Swainson's ' Zoological Illustrations,' 1st 

 and 2nd series, 1820-33; Donovan's 'Naturalist's Repository;* Jardine and 

 Selby's ' Illustrations of Ornithology,' an excellent work, which I regret to 

 say is now discontinued ; Wilson's ' Illustrations of Zoology,' fol. Edinburgh, 

 1827, an accurate and well-illustrated volume; J. E. Gray's 'Zoological 

 Miscellany,' 1831, containing concise descriptions of new species ; Swainson's 

 'Animals in Menageries,' 1838, (in Lardner's Cyclopeedia,) comprising de- 

 scriptions of 225 species, many of which however had before been published; 

 Bennett's ' Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoological Society,' 1831, valuable 

 for its observations on the habits of living individuals; and Gould's ' Icones 

 Avium,' equal in merit and beauty to his other works. 



Among foreign works of the same kind are Temminck's ' Planches Colo- 

 riees,' whose merits are too well known to be here dwelt on, and the text of 

 which, if carefully translated and edited, would form an acceptable volume 

 to the British naturalist ; Lesson's ' Centurie Zoologique,' containing eighty 

 miscellaneous plates ; those relating to ornithology respectably executed, and 

 exhibiting several new forms, especially of Chilian Birds ; the ' Illustrations 

 de Zoologie ' form a second volume of the same character as the ' Centurie ; ' 

 Kuester's 'Ornithologische Atlas'der auseuropaischenVogel,' Nuremberg; Du- 

 bois' ' Ornithologische Galerie,' Aix-la-Chapelle ; (the last two works I know 

 only by name;) Lemaire, 'Hist. Nat. des Oiseaux exotiques,' Paris, 1836, a 

 collection of brief descriptions and very gaudy figures ; and Riippell's ' Mu- 

 seum Senckenbergianum,' a work of first-rate excellence. 



5. Progress of the Pictorial Art as applied to Ornithology. 



The preceding criticisms have chiefly referred to the claims of the descrip- 

 tive or classificatory portion of the several works noticed, but it may be useful 

 to make a few special observations on the success which has attended the 

 various methods of representing the forms and colours of birds to the eye. 

 In this branch of zoology as in all others the pencil is an indispensable adjunct 

 to the pen. The minute modifications of form which constitute the distinc- 

 tive characters of genera, and the delicate shades of colour by which alone 

 the specific differences are in many cases indicated, are of such a nature as 

 to be frequently beyond the power of language to define without the aid of 

 art, and it is consequently indispensable that the zoological ai'tist should com- 

 bine a scientific knowledge of the subject with a perfect command of his 

 pencil. In no branch of zoology are these peculiar talents more requisite 

 than in ornithology, where the varieties of habit and of attitude, the unequalled 

 grace and elegance of form, the remarkable modifications of structure in the 

 plumage, and the endless diversities of colouring demand the highest resources 

 of the painter's skill. 



The three principal modes of engraving, namely, wood-engraving, metallic 

 plate-engraving and lithography, have all been applied in turn to the illus- 

 tration of ornithology. 



1. Wood-engraving — For such illustrations of birds as are not intended 

 for colouring, this method is not only the cheapest, but for works of small size 

 it is the best. The works of the immortal Bewick, have shown us with what 



