Bibliographical Notices. 221 



species, after gradually becoming more and more rare, may hereafter be- 

 come altogether extinct. The records now given of its occurrence will 

 then acquire an importance beyond that with which they are at present 

 invested. The same observation applies to many other birds yet in- 

 digenous to Ireland. Already several species, which were at one 

 time abundant, have become extinct, or are only known as rare vi- 

 sitants, and the author has not failed to supply, from all authentic 

 sources, such particulars respecting them as are most worthy of pre- 

 servation. 



The situation of Ireland gives interest to a comparative list of its 

 birds with those of Great Britain ; and accordingly Mr. Thompson has 

 appended to each order a valuable summary, snowing at a glance the 

 species peculiar to the respective islands. The differences between 

 them are not to be accounted for by local causes, such as mineralo- 

 gical structure or climate, but must be attributed to the laws of 

 geographical distribution. In this respect, all that pertains to Ireland 

 and distinguishes it from other European countries becomes of philo- 

 sophical interest, considered in connexion with its insular position, 

 and its being the most western of all European lands. 



In reading Mr. Thompson's pages, we do not receive information 

 merely with reference to the birds of Ireland as compared with those 

 of Great Britain, but not unfrequently we have tidings of their mi- 

 grations, habits and comparative abundance, both in the Arctic circle 

 and in the sunny isles of the iEgean. In this way it occasionally 

 happens, that the author leads us with him almost insensibly to 

 brighter skies and classic scenes, so fraught with pictorial and poetic 

 interest, that we are tempted to forget the measured language of the 

 reviewer of a scientific work, and express without reservation the 

 delight which the reading of certain passages has afforded. As an 

 example, we would refer to the bee-eater, vol. i. p. 367 : — 



" I have had the gratification of seeing the bee-eater in scenes with 

 which its brilliant plumage was more in harmony than with any in 

 the British Isles. It first excited my admiration in August 1826, 

 when visiting the celebrated grotto of Egeria, near Rome. On ap- 

 proaching this classic spot, several of these birds, in rapid, swift-like 

 flight, swept closely past and around us, uttering their peculiar call, 

 and with their graceful form and brilliant colours proved irresistibly 

 attractive. My companion, who, as well as myself, beheld them for 

 the first time, was so greatly struck with the beauty of their plumage 

 and bold sweeping flight, as to term them the presiding deities over 

 Egeria' s Grotto. Rich as was the spot in historical and poetical as- 

 sociations, it was not less so in pictorial charms ; all was in admirable 

 keeping : — the picturesque grotto with its ivy-mantled entrance and 

 gushing spring ; the gracefully reclining, though headless white 

 marble statue of the nymph ; the sides of the grotto covered with 

 the exquisitely beautiful maiden-hair fern in the richest luxuriance ; 

 the wilderness of wild flowers around the exterior, attracting the bees, 

 on which the Merops was feeding ; and over all, the deep blue sky of 

 Rome completing the picture." 



