Audubon’s Ornithology, First Volume. 351 
The first of the works to which we propose to ask the atten- 
tion of our readers, is, as its name implies, simply a synopsis of 
the birds of North America. It is comprised in a single duode- 
cimo volume of about three hundred and fifty pages. The num- 
ber of birds enumerated is 491. And some idea may be form- 
ed of the discoveries which have been made in this department 
of science within the few past years, from the fact that among 
them are no less than 142 birds not included in the synopsis of 
Bonaparte, and about one half of the whole number are not men- 
tioned in the. work of Wilson Quite a number of these are 
new species, from the Rocky Mountains, the discovery of Mr. 
Townsend. : 
Mr. Audubon has adopted, very nearly, the quinary system in 
his arrangement, a system that finds no favor in our eyes, but 
which we will refer to more at length when we speak of the 
Ornithology itself. To each family is appended the characteris- 
tics, as well as to each genus, and to every species of bird, be- 
sides a reference to his own works and plates; wherever they 
have been described by any other American naturalist, the au- 
thor, volume and page are given. Besides this he has added in 
each instance a brief but accurate, and for every essential purpose, 
complete scientific description of the specific marks, as well as 
the habitat of every species. 
Just such a work as this synopsis has long been a great desid- 
eratum among our ornithologists; indeed it has been next to im- 
possible todo without one. We are therefore somewhat surprised 
te although it is now more than a year since the present ~ ene 
, it has. never been republished in this country... ~ 
rs: a work as the Synopsis can never of course be a popular 
one, or of any interest to one not an ornithologist. Confined as 
it is to, the technicalities of science, and affording, as it must to 
the beginner, nothing to interest him, it is still as absolutely in- 
dispensable as the dictionary is to the student of a languag 
And although we should as soon think of placing the latter alone 
in the hands of the student, as the means of learning any un- 
-known tongue, as we should of relying solely upon a synopsis for 
the study of ornithology—the one is as absolutely necessary as the 
other. As ornithologists are multiplying among us, in an almost 
geometrical ratio, the want of such a work as a cheap reprint of 
Mr. Audubon’s, is very much felt. It is the only key that yet ex- 
