THE ORNITHOLOGICAL GUIDE. 89 



remember having noticed any bird so remarkably 

 fond of society as this species. A fine male, which 

 . I long kept in confinement, in a large cage, together 

 with a variety of other small birds, generally passed 

 his time on the higher perches, where, if left alone 

 by the others, even for a moment, he raised a most 

 pitiful outcry, endeavouring by every means in his 

 power to call them up ; and then sometimes, when 

 all his efforts were unavailing, and he could brook 

 solitude no longer, he would descend, and strut 

 among his companions, chuckling with pleasure at 

 being again in their society." Having thus duly 

 cleared this elegant bird from the hasty calumny 

 heedlessly brought against him, we dismiss Gold- 

 smith's Animated Nature, with a caution to the 

 reader that he take heed how he puts faith in the 

 statements of the author, who, like Leclerc, Count 

 of Buffon, is more solicitous about elegance of 

 diction than accuracy of observation. 



Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne ; by Gilbert White. 

 A New Edition, edited by James Rennie : with Notes by several 

 Eminent Naturalists, and an enlargement of the Naturalist's Calendar. 

 8vo. 1833. 10s. 



So well known and highly valued a work as the 

 Natural History of Selborne, it would be almost 

 superfluous to eulogise, and as superfluous to criti- 

 cise. Swainson takes to himself the merit of having 

 been the first to " bring it under the notice of the 

 present generation," and certainly he could scarce 



