434 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



A History of the Birds of New Zealand. By Sir Walter L. 

 Buller, K.C.M.G., Sc.D., F.R.S. Parts I— IX. Imperial 

 4to. Published for Subscribers, by the Author, at 8, Victoria 

 Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster. 1887 — 88. 



In July of last year Sir Walter Buller commenced the publi- 

 cation, in parts, of a new edition of his 'Birds of New Zealand,' 

 the first edition of which, dated 1873, has long been out of 

 print and scarce. Nine parts out of thirteen of the new issue 

 have already appeared, and testify on every page to the industry 

 and enterprise of the author. While he has adhered to the 

 general method and style of the first edition, many alterations 

 and additions have been made, whereby the work may now be 

 said to represent very fairly, so far as New Zealand is concerned, 

 the great advance which has been made in ornithological science 

 during the interval which has elapsed since its first publication. 

 The book itself is on a larger scale, being imperial instead of 

 royal quarto, and the plates, inimitably drawn by Mr. Keulemans, 

 instead of being hand-coloured lithographs, have been produced 

 by the more costly, but more exact, process of printing in colours. 



Although we must confess, that for our part we prefer hand- 

 coloured plates for their greater softness and better perspective, 

 it must be admitted that by chromo-lithography, the hardness 

 of outline (especially where two bright colours come into juxta- 

 position) is compensated for by the greater uniformity which is 

 secured throughout the whole edition, a result which is never 

 obtained where hand-colouring is employed. For this reason, 

 perhaps, most people will prefer the new plates to the old ones, 

 and certainly many of them are beautiful examples of the 

 chromo-lithographer's art. Each part contains facsimiles of 

 four coloured drawings by Mr. Keulemans, under whose imme- 

 diate direction all the colour-stones have been prepared, and the 

 birds are represented as they appear in life, with accessories 

 drawn from the native flora of the country. More than this can 

 scarcely be desired. 



That the time has fully arrived for the publication of as 

 complete a history of New Zealand birds as can be now 



