THE ORNITHOLOGICAL GUIDE. 135 



It may safely be asserted that the plates in fidelity 

 of delineation and beauty of execution are unrivalled : 

 in this department Mr. Gould has outstripped the 

 most celebrated of his predecessors, and the most 

 successful of his cotemporaries. The first number 

 contains, amongst others, the Ruddy Falcon, (Falco 

 tinnuloides,) the Kingfisher, the Wryneck, (Tor- 

 quilla,) the Rail, the Redfooted Falcon, the Whin 

 Chat, the Missel Thrush, &c, and these are remark- 

 ably well hit off, particularly the Wryneck, which is 

 quite inimitable. Many birds are already included 

 which were not in Temmink's Manuel cVOrnitho- 

 logie : and amongst others a new species of Wagtail, 

 (Motacilla neglecta,) and a new species of King- 

 let, (Regulus modestus.) The work has been highly 

 praised by the press, and in No. IV of the Analyst, 

 in a notice of the work, a correspondent says : — 

 " Nine parts of this splendid work (the Birds of 

 Europe,) have already appeared. The author, evi- 

 dently a Falco of the Golden Eagle kind, has taken 

 wing nobly ; soars far above all his European com- 

 petitors ; and leaves even the American Audubon 

 himself at a goodly distance below. To conclude, 

 the dark — the iron — ages of Ornithology, 



' Pierced by a Ray 

 Of British light, have long since passed away.' 



Bewick, by his spirited doings on the block (no lack 

 of respect to the memory of that highly-endowed 



