The Zoologist — August, 1874. 4085 



^Qtim at ^tl\i §m{is. 



Introduction to the 'Birds of Great Britain.^ By John Gould. 

 London : Printed for the Author. 1873. Demy 8vo, 135 pp. 

 Price five shillings and sixpence. 



In pursuance of the course which he adopted when preparing 

 the introductory matter of his works on the ' Birds of Australia,' 

 the 'Mammals of Australia,' and the ' Monograph of Trochilidse,' 

 Mr. Gould has had this Introduction to the ' Birds of Great Britain' 

 set up in smaller type for the convenience of correcting before 

 printing it in the folio form. This smaller work is not, therefore, 

 in any way intended as a substitute for the letterpress of the folio 

 work, but rather as a general summary accessible to all, the price 

 of the complete and splendidly illustrated folio being prohibitory 

 to such ornithologists as myself, men who have the same taste for 

 Birds as the Regal and Princely subscribers to the more ex- 

 pensive luxury, but not the same means of indulging that taste, 

 and who must therefore perforce be contented with this " general 

 summary," in perusing which they will find much that is instructive 

 and comparatively new, although, like an auctioneer's catalogue, 

 it gives but a very superficial idea of the treasures enumerated. 

 Still this smaller production contains some statements with which 

 I cannot altogether agree, and a classification which seems un- 

 accountably retrogressive, in the face of the more extended know- 

 ledge which the author has abundantly shown himself to possess, of 

 the immature states of his feathered friends, knowledge that should, 

 as I think, have been digested and arranged — in a word, " utilized" 

 — for our instruction. 



Unfortunately for me, this announcement will elicit a smile of 

 something like contempt from my readers, most of whom would 

 doubtless consider Mr. Gould infallible, and far above the reach 

 of any criticism of mine; still the office of critic is compulsory, and 

 honesty in criticism is a duty : therefore I proceed. At p. 15 of Mr. 

 Gould's work it is stated that toucans, trogons and humming-birds 

 are confined exclusively to the New World. I thought it was other- 

 wise ; I will not cite Mr. Stanley, who has peopled the banks of 

 Tanganyika with gorgeous toucans, or Mrs. Haines, whose highly 

 poetic spirit was charmed with the metallic humming-birds of 



SECOND SERIES — VOL. IX. 2 O 



