THE OENITHOLOGICAL GUIDE. 131 



be too strongly condemned, but this would have 

 been of little moment in a work like this, in compa- 

 rison to another error — that of placing the eggs of 

 birds in different genera in the same plate. For 

 instance, in the very last Number, the egg of the 

 Nightingale (Philomela,) and the Redbreast (Rube- 

 cula,) are on the same plate ! And many other 

 errors of the kind, as bad, and even worse might be 

 cited. When the work is arranged to be bound, 

 these errors will take away half the value from the 

 work, for it will oblige. the subscriber to retain birds 

 in juxtaposition which occupy a very different 

 situation in the natural system. We noticed the 

 same error in Seley's plates, and wherever it occurs 

 it ought to be unsparingly reprobated. The plates 

 of Hewitson are numbered regularly in the order 

 in which they come out ; they should, however, 

 either not have been numbered at all, or else, in 

 accordance with some system, that of Selby for 

 instance. Thus suppose the Eagle came first, this 

 would be numbered " plate II ;" suppose the Wren 

 came next, this would be numbered " plate CXXX." 

 Had the work been conducted on this plan it would 

 have been valuable indeed. The eggs of 140 birds 

 have been already figured — that is, half the number 

 of species known in Britain. The slow progress of 

 the work has been a subject of general complaint — 

 by the time the work completes the third volume, 

 we begin to think the author will have a new gene- 

 ration of subscribers. If a number containing not 



