THE ORNITHOLOGICAL GUIDE. 93 



honest inoffensive Ring Pigeon ; the work-jobbing 

 Nuthatch, the poet Blackcap: the parson Crow; 

 the gay-crested silken councellor Waxwing; and 

 the cunning, rogue-attorney, Pie ; though I am sorry 

 to libel the poor birds. The moral habits of each 

 are as distinctly marked as had he painted portraits 

 of individuals for Lavater. Had he done no more 

 than draw the outlines of these figures on paper, 

 it would have ranked him among the most happy 

 of draughtsmen ; but to have transferred these to 

 wood, in the finest lines of black and white, to have 

 given light, shade, and almost relief, is beyond all 

 praise, but that of the silent and admiring mind." 

 In this warm eulogy, Mr. Davaston, has not 

 always, we think, been very fortunate in his instan- 

 ces of the woodcuts. The Wren (Anorthura) 

 always appeared to us as amongst the less fortunate 

 efforts of Bewick's pencil, being much too large and 

 thick. The Kingfisher and Dipper are open to the 

 same charge. There are also others executed in an 

 inferior style, having probably, as Rusticus sup- 

 poses, been copied from specimens stuffed by one 

 of the barbarian bird-stuffers of the last century. 

 As instances may be mentioned, the Hedge Dunnoc, 

 the Redeyed Whinling, the Bearded Pinnoc, the 

 Goldcrested Kinglet, the Hedge Warbler, the Gray 

 Wagtail, the Yellow Bunting, the Garden Linnet, 

 the Whitethroated Fauvet, the Wall Redstart, the 

 Marsh Reedling, the Blue Tit, the Barred Wood- 

 pecker, and some others, which it is a pity the 



