218 Bibliographical Notices. 
BIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTICES. 
The Natural History of Ireland.—Vols. I. and II. Birds, compri- 
sing the Orders Raptores, Insessores, Rasores, and Grallatores. 
By Witt1am Tuomeson, Esq.—London: Reeve, Benham and 
Reeve. 
TuE first and second volumes of a work bearing the above title now 
lie upon our table; and the portion devoted exclusively to the Birds 
of Ireland will be completed in the third, which we believe is now in 
an advanced stage of preparation. ‘Two volumes out of the three on 
this subject having now appeared, we feel we are in a position to state 
to our readers the plan and general arrangement of the work, and to 
express our opinion of its value as a contribution to our scientific 
literature. 
In the pages of this journal, under its former title, there was com- 
menced in the year 1838 a series of papers by Mr. Thompson on the 
Birds of Ireland, which was continued at intervals until 1843. It 
related to the birds comprised in the orders Raptores, Insessores and 
Rasores. All that was valuable in those papers has been transferred 
to the first volume of the present work and to the early part of the 
second volume, but with copious and valuable additions. Neither the 
Grallatores nor the Natatores have hitherto been systematically 
treated of by the author. 
It is obvious that the two volumes now before us present in many 
respects a striking contrast. One treats of the birds of prey, and also 
of those “feathered choristers’’ which give melody to every brake, 
or whose graceful and easy flight realise to our eye the very poetry of 
motion. It comprises the birds of two orders (Raptores and Inses- 
sores). The other also treats of two orders (Rasores and Grallatores), 
and brings before us the heathy slope on which the grouse is sought 
by the sportsman, the bog with its “wisps” of snipe, and the calm 
sea-bay where flocks of dunlins, comprising many hundred individuals, 
dazzle the eye one moment by their brightness, and, in their changeful 
flight, become invisible the next. Such and so varied are the contents 
of these two volumes. We shall now state the purpose for which 
they appear to have been written, and a few of the leading points of 
interest which they embrace. 
The author states his opinion—in which we entirely concur—that 
“every country should possess a natural history specially appertain- 
ing to itself.” For such a work he has been for a quarter of a cen- 
tury assiduously collecting the materials, on nearly every branch of 
which, as he himself informs us, he has matter almost ready for the 
press. The present volumes he expressly states are “ put forward 
merely as supplementary to the several excellent works already pub- 
lished on British Ornithology.”’ For this reason, descriptions of form 
or plumage are in most instances omitted; when introduced they 
refer to some rare visitant, where critical examination and measure- 
ment seem, from the circumstances of each case, to be demanded. 
In Mr. Thompson’s “‘ Additions to the Fauna of Ireland,” and in 
all his former papers, our readers may recollect the precision with 
