THE ORNITHOLOGICAL GUIDE. 141 



most remarkable habits are given under the head of 

 each country, accompanied by woodcuts, sometimes 

 poor enough, but generally beautiful. Mr. Swainson, 

 though unquestionably a talented systematist, has 

 evidently but small acquaintance with the birds of 

 Britain. At p. 606 is given a list of birds prefaced 

 by the following comment : — " The following list of 

 Roman birds unknown as natives of Britain, will 

 materially illustrate the geographic ornithology of 

 the two countries." In this list we find the Alpine 

 Swift, (Cipselus melba ;) the Wood Treeling {Silvia 

 sibilans,) the Tawny Aluc [Aluco stridula,) the 

 Rock Pipit (Anthus rupestris,) and the Tree Pipit 

 (A. arboreus,) all of which are not only known as 

 British birds but are also very common ! The Alpine 

 Abem, the Firecrested Kinglet, the Little Pluver 

 (Pluvialis pusilla,) the White Store, the Black Store, 

 the Glossy Ibis, and the Purple Hern are also British 

 birds, although Swainson was evidently unacquainted 

 with it. If an author displays such lamentable 

 ignorance of the natural history of his own country, 

 how will readers give him credit for a correct know- 

 ledge of that of foreign countries ? Instead of one 

 unwieldy volume of 1560 pages, would it not have 

 been better to have published it in three of 600 

 pages each ; and thus the type might have been 

 more uniform and not so minute as it too frequently 

 is in the present impression. 



