568 Recently published Ornithological Works. 



become a resident and breeding species. Shorter notes on 

 birds are also given in oth^r numbers of the 'Irish Natural- 

 ist/ and Mr. R. Patterson catalogues tbe birds of Rathlin 

 Island, CO. Antrim. 



108. Mivarfs 'Elements of Ornithology.' 



[Birds : the ElemeEts of Ornithology. By St. George Mivart, F.R.S. 

 "With 174 illustrations, whereof 140 are original drawings. London : 

 Porter and Dulau. 1 vol., 330 pp., sm. 8vo. 1892.] 



It was with some surprise, we confess, that we first heard 

 that Dr. Mivart was engaged in writing a book upon birds. 

 We were still more surprised, however, when we found what 

 a nice little volume he bad produced, after what, we believe, 

 was but a few months' labour. Mivart's ' Birds ' cannot, of 

 course, be placed quite in the same category as Giinther's 

 •^ Fishes ' and Flower and Lydekker's ' Mammals.' But it 

 is, nevertheless, a useful book, and will be much appreciated 

 by those who are commencing the study of Ornithology. 



Dr. Mivart begins his work with a long "introduction," 

 in which he reviews the principal groups of the whole order of 

 birds, and mentions the characteristic species of each of them. 

 This introduction is illustrated by a series of 140 figures, 

 very nicely drawn and printed in the text. The drawing of 

 these illustrations (by Keulemans, we believe) is excellent, 

 but the process by which they were engraved leaves, in many 

 cases, something to be desired. It would have also been 

 better, we think, to have arranged this part of the volume 

 exactly or more nearly in the same order as is subsequently 

 put forward in chapter vi. The interposition of the Penguins 

 between the Auks and the Puffins, and the location of the Hum- 

 ming-birds among the true Passeres, may cause the unwary 

 student to err concerning the true affinities of these birds. 



After the introduction we have essays on the external 

 and internal structure of birds and on the other systems 

 of organs. A separate chapter is devoted to the geology 

 and geography of birds, in which much information is 

 compressed into a few pages. Finally we have the difficult 

 subject of classification taken up and treated in a judicious 



I 



