ORNITHOLOGY. 



553 



History, the United States, by John James Audubon, F. R. S., &c. 

 x — ~v— — • '3 vols, folio, London, 1831-37; an undertaking which far 

 exceeds in size and splendour all its predecessors in this, 

 or indeed in any other department of Zoology. The di- 

 mensions of the work, as we have elsewhere noticed, are 

 such as to enable the author not only to represent the 

 largest birds of the United States, of the size and in the 

 attitudes of living nature, but to figure a great proportion 

 of them in family groups, so admirably conceived and skil- 

 fully executed, as really to form historical pictures of the 

 highest interest to the general observer, and of the great- 

 est utility to the student of Ornithology. The completion 

 of each volume of plates is immediately followed by a large 

 octavo volume of descriptive and general history of all the 

 species therein contained. Mr Audubon far excels Wil- 

 son as an ornithological draftsman, and often equals him 

 in his lively, eloquent, and interesting details of the life 

 and manners of the feathered tribes. His descriptive vo- 

 lumes are entitled Ornithological Biography, or an Ac- 

 count of the Habits of the Birds of the United States. They 

 at present amount to three in number ; and a fourth and 

 final one, to accompany the concluding fasciculus of his 

 splendid plates, is now on the eve of publication. 



An extremely useful and well-concocted work, of less 

 ambitious form than the preceding, is the Manual of the 

 Ornithology of the United States and of Canada, by 

 Thomas Nuttall, F. L. S., in two compact octavo volumes, 

 Cambridge and Boston, 1832-34. The author has recent- 

 ly returned from a scientific tour through the great west- 

 ern territories, including an-«xtended range of the Rocky 

 Mountains ; and, we doubt not, the public will benefit by 

 whatever account he gives of his researches. 



Although we have hitherto confined our bibliographical 

 notices chiefly to the works of foreign writers, we have 

 done so not in consequence altogether of our own poverty, 

 but rather for the more ample information of the English 

 reader, who may be supposed to require less assistance in 

 regard to British authors. We have scarcely even named 

 the British Birds of the unequalled Bewick. We name 

 it, and nothing more, believing that every one who de- 

 lights to see nature in art, is familiarly acquainted with a 

 work which may be keenly relished without any arduous 

 study, but which those who study most will best appreciate 

 and enjoy. Although the descriptive portion is written with 

 accuracy and intelligence, we doubt not it would be ad- 

 vantageous to the author's family, and prove a labour of 

 love to one or more of the many skilful Ornithologists of 

 the present day, that the plates should be re-arranged in 

 conformity with modern views, the supplement incorporat- 

 ed, the synonyms increased, and such rational alterations 

 or additions effected, as would render it the manual of 

 British Ornithology, if not for all time coming, yet for 

 many future years. If accompanied by portions of the 

 author's autobiography, so much the better. We regret 

 that the latter, so racy and original, should have not yet 

 seen the light. The most recent and complete edition of 

 Bewick's Birds is that of 1832. A very beautiful pre- 

 face is prefixed to the one published in 1826. 



The most original descriptive works on the birds of Bri- 

 tain are Montagu's Ornithological Dictionary, 2 vols. 

 8vo, 1802, and Supplement to the same, 1 vol. 8vo, 1813. 

 These were not only excellent works on British birds 

 simply as such, but valuable additions to the actual history 

 of European species, — the chief merit of many of our other 

 publications consisting in their applying the knowledge 

 acquired by foreign writers to our indigenous kinds ; 

 whereas Montagu rather gave than borrowed, his obser- 

 vations being almost entirely original. His volumes are 

 now extremely rare in their first form ; but a new edition, 

 combining both works in one, was brought out in 1831, 

 with notes, by Mr Rennie. 



VOL. XVI. 



Dr Fleming, in his History of British Animals, one vol. History, 

 octavo, 1828, enumerates and describes the birds of Bri- v — — y— — 

 tain. Of this work, which has been very useful to some 

 who say rather too little about it, we should desire to see 

 a new edition, remodelled in accordance with the altera- 

 tions and additions rendered necessary by the lapse of 

 years. It is a publication of great merit. 



The letter-press to Mr Selby's folio Illustrations of Bri- 

 tish Ornithology (we mean the second edition, in two vols. 

 8vo, 1833) forms the best completed work we yet possess 

 in accordance with the modern method of arrangement. 

 Jointly with Sir William Jardine, Mr Selby has also 

 brought out many fasciculi of Illustrations of Ornithology 

 (small folio), in which are figured various interesting and 

 curious forms of foreign species ; and his well-instructed 

 coadjutor is editor (and of several volumes author) of the 

 Naturalist's Library, in which a due portion is success- 

 fully devoted to the history and representation of the 

 feathered tribes. Both publications continue at the pre- 

 sent time (1838). 



One of the most valuable and carefully constructed 

 works with which we are acquainted is the Syslema Avi- 

 um of Dr Wagler, pars prima, Stuttgard, 1827. It con- 

 sists of a series of monographs, not in systematic order, 

 but including several extensive and difficult genera, such as 

 Picus, Columba, &c. The author unfortunately died not 

 long ago, in consequence of a gun-shot wound accidentally 

 inflicted by himself while sporting, and the non-comple- 

 tion of his work may be regarded as a great loss to Orni- 

 thologists. Various additional though detached portions 

 of it, however, may be found in the Isis, a German perio- 

 dical published at Frankfort. Wagler is also the author 

 of the most recent descriptive summary of the parrot 

 tribe, under the title of Monographia Psittacorum, one 

 vol. 4to, Munchen, 1835. Our best previous treatise on 

 that gorgeous family was published by the lamented Kuhl, 

 in the Nova Acta of Bonn, vol. x. Of illustrated works on 

 the subject, we have already mentioned that of Vaillant ; 

 and the English reader need scarcely be reminded of the 

 extreme beauty of Mr Lear's more recent Illustrations of 

 the Psittacida, in one vol. royal folio. 



A considerable flock of ornithological authors has re- 

 cently appeared above the horizon, to enlighten, however, 

 rather than obscure our vision. We shall name a few. 



Outlines of the Smaller British Birds, by R. A. Slaney, 

 Esq. 12mo, 1833. 



Familiar History of Birds, by the Rev. Edward Stan- 

 ley, 2 vols. 12mo, 1835. 



Manual of British Vertebrate Animals, by the Rev. 

 Leonard Jenyns, 1 vol. 8vo, 1835. 



Feathered Tribes of the British Islands, by Robert Mu- 

 die, 2 vols. 8vo, 1836. 



History of the rarer British Birds, intended as a sup- 

 plement to Bewick, by T. C. Eyton, Esq. 1836. 



Of these, and other contemporary writers, the reader 

 will find more ample notice in Mr Neville Wood's Orni- 

 thologist's Text-Booh of 1836. 



The following works relate particularly to the more mu- 

 sical of the feathered tribes : Harmonia Ruralis, or Natu- 

 ral History of British Song Birds, by James Bolton, folio, 

 1794 ; — British Warblers, by Robert Sweet, F. L. S. 8vo, 

 1823-32; — Treatise on British Song Birds, by Patrick 

 Syme, Esq. 8vo, 1823 ; — British Songsters, by Neville 

 Wood, Esq. 8vo, 1837 ; — Cage Birds, their Natural His- 

 tory, Management, &c. (translated from the German), by 

 J. M. Bechstein, 12mo, 1837. 



Mr Yarrell has commenced his much-desired History 

 of British Birds, illustrated by a wood-cut of each species, 

 and numerous vignettes. The illustrations are for the 

 most part remarkably accurate as ornithological represen- 

 tations, and of extreme beauty in a pictorial point of view. 



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