140 CRITICAL NOTICES OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 



bourhood of our dwellings ; and that it is much less approachable 

 at any time — but more especially when it is abroad in the fields — 

 than the Chaff Finch, Hedge Dunnock, Robin Redbreast, and vari- 

 ous other birds of its size, we think almost every one will admit. — 

 We wonder when the question as to the type of the Fringillidce will 

 be settled. Some consider it to be the Haw Grosbeak, others the 

 Siskin Goldwing, others — with more propriety, we think — the 

 Chaff Finch, and ^Ir. MacGillivray has added to the confusion by 

 raising the House Sparrow to this important station. 



If Mr. Swainson's reasoning relative to the weakness (!) of the 

 Haw Grosbeak's bill is " a remarkable instance of false reasoning," 

 we are not a whit the less disposed to blame our present author for 

 his reason for separating the Haw and Green Grosbeak, but of this 

 we have already said enough. It may here be interesting to notice, 

 as there has been much disputing about the food of the Hedge Coal- 

 hood (Pyrrhula pileata, MacGill.), that our author thinks, "judg- 

 ing from the structure of its digestive organs, that such crude vege- 

 table matters as buds could not afford it sufficient nourishment." 



Our author is of opinion that Ravens and other carrion birds dis- 

 cover the existence of putrid food at ^reat distances rather by the 

 mode of flight and general behaviour of their neighbours than by 

 their own sense of smell ; and the supposition is at least plausible. 



In the biography of the Carrion Crow an interesting account of 

 the destructive propensities of this bird in the lambing season is in- 

 serted, from the pen of Mr. W. Hogg, shepherd, Stobo Hope, Pee- 

 blesshire, which we intended to have quoted had space permitted. 

 Another letter, from Thomas Durham Weir, Esq., Boghead, Lin- 

 lithgowshire, relating to the same species, is likewise supplied, 

 which, for a similar reason, we must pass over. 



If we may be allowed to judge by the following passage, our au- 

 thor has not attempted to discover the dispositions of birds by the 

 development of their crania, which, however, the extensive collec- 

 tions to which he has access would give him ample opportunities for 

 doing : — 



" If the brains of birds are capable of being mapped, certainly the parish of 

 Acquisitiveness ought to be remarkably large in these species [the Crows], 

 as well as those of Cautiousness and Prudence [these two faculties are syno- 

 nymous], for the dread of man in birds unable to cope with him is evidently 

 not cowardice, but a reasonable and estimable feeling." — p. 558. 



Mr. MacGillivray, we regret to say, is here beyond his depth. 

 Fropi what, we would ask, can cowai'dice proceed but the organ 

 of Caution } and in that truly we can perceive nothing particularly 

 " reasonable and estimable." 



To sum up the merits and defects of the work before us : We are 

 much pleased with the plan on which the descriptions of plu- 

 mage, &c., are given, viz., a general and concise character of each 

 species at first, with a full and detailed account afterwards. Thus 

 it will, in general, be sufficient to read the former when perus- 



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