REVIEWS. 245 



List of Birds observed near Hamilton, C. W., hy Thomas McT- 

 loraith. Extracted from the 'proceedings of the Essex Institute.^ 

 Vol. V. 186G. 



We have, bere, two catalogues of tlie birds of Western Canada : 

 one as general as it could be made from tbe information witbin tbe 

 autbor's reacb ; tbe otber professedly local, and tbe expression of 

 actual personal knowledge and observation, yet tbe latter reacbes 

 241 species, including several not found in tbe more general list, 

 wbicb only numbers 271. It is mucb to be regretted tbat Mr. Mcll- 

 wraitb's list was not, like an earlier one, wbicb be communicated to 

 tbis journal, some years since, among the materials accessible in com- 

 piling Professor Hincks' list, which it was hoped might be a useful 

 aid to lovers of ornithology, throughout tbe country. For their con-, 

 venience, we will here give the names of the birds added by Mr. 

 Mcllwraitb, which may be inserted in their places in tbe more 

 general catalogue. But we must first notice the difficulty of com- 

 paring tbe two lists, from the different order in which the birds are 

 placed, and tbe great difference in the names einployed. 



Tbe writer of this article being tbe compiler of one list, has, of 

 course, no idea of adding to its authority by any expression of 

 approbation here. He performed a very humble labour, at tbe re- 

 quest of the Board of Arts and Manufactures, to assist in tbe public 

 object of sending to the Paris Exhibition as good a set as tbe time 

 would allow of being collected of tbe feathered inhabitants of 

 Western Canada. He employed the arrangement and nomenclature 

 to which be is accustomed, and which seemed to him most likely to 

 be of general use. In immediate reference to Mr. Mcllwraitb' s list, 

 be adds, now, a few words of explanation. At the head of bis own 

 catalogue is a key to its arrangement. To assist comparison, he will 

 here attempt to explain Dr. Baird's plan, which is followed l?y Mr. 

 Mcllwraitb. Neitbei* of the two, it will be observed, is tbat found 

 in ordinary ornithological works. First, Dr. Baird begins with tbe 

 birds of prey — our 2nd. order — and with tbe family Vulturid^ — our 

 3rd. family in tbis order — which, indeed, does not appear in our 

 catalogue, as we learn, for the first time, from Mr. Mcllwraith's 

 present list, tbat Cathartes aura, the turkey-buzzard (his only 

 Vulture), visits Canada occasionally. We place tbe Eagles first, as tbe 

 most powerful and specially Raptorial group ; then the Falcons ; then 

 the Vulttires, and last of all the Owls. There are, also, differences 



