372 The Zoologist — September, 1866. 



will reduce brown feathers to white, and if carefully used the sooty 

 brown of L. ridibundus to that of L. capistratus. It is strange, too, 

 how easily some dealers get the eggs of this gull. 



Harry Blake-Knox. 



Dalkey, Co. Dublin, May, 1866. 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



^ A Dictionary of British Birds,'' reprinted from Montagu s ' Ornitho- 

 logical Dictionary^ and incorporating the additional Species 

 described by Selby, Yarrell in all three editions, and in 

 Natural History Journals. Compiled and Edited by Edward 

 Newman, F.L.S , F.Z.S., &c., &c. 400 pp. demy 8vo. Price 

 Twelve Shillings. 



Nothing in the art of criticism is considered more legitimate than 

 for an author to review his own productions ; but in the notices which 

 appear from time to time in the ' Zoologist,' there is an obvious 

 departure from rule in my candid admission that each is written by 

 myself: the orthodox way being to seduce the reader into the belief 

 that he is perusing the lucubrations of some perfectly independent and 

 most competent judge of the performance under consideration. The 

 temptation to this line of conduct in my individual instance, is greatly 

 diminished by the firm conviction that any little playful deception of 

 this kind would be most readily detected, and that the detector would 

 proclaim his discovery far and wide. Instead, therefore, of affecting 

 mystery in the matter, I shall content myself with stating that the 

 Dictionary has been a labour of years, that it has cost me a great deal 

 of time and money, and that every ornithologist who purchases a copy 

 will do me a favour for which I shall feel grateful. 



To give an analysis of a dictionary, with or without commendation 

 is clearly impossible : but it is a comparatively easy task to reprint 

 the Preface, which is a kind of promissory note ; and then to select 

 one or two examples of the performance. Should the influence of these 

 extracts prove favourable I am clearly entitled to the benefit; if 

 unfavourable 1 must abide the consequences. 



Editors Preface. — " To Colonel Montagu's admirable Introduction 

 I have not a sentence to add as regards the natural history of British 



