THE OKNITHOLOGICAL GUIDE. 167 



The second part contains water birds. These we 

 do not like so well as the land birds, and the plan of 

 nomenclature is rather novel than scientific. Thus 

 he has given the name Mergoides rufina to the 

 Redcrested Pochard, and to that appellation instead 

 of appending his own name, he has tacked on that 

 of Linneus ! This is, to say the least, very unfair, 

 for the student would commit this and other names 

 to memory under the impression of their having 

 been given by the Swedish Naturalist, instead of, as 

 in reality, by an English amateur. If an author 

 gives a name, he must take it on his own responsi- 

 bility, and not endeavour to puff it into notice by 

 attempting to palm it off as that of another. The 

 catalogue at the end is as bad as one should have 

 expected from Fleming or Rennie, and the plan is 

 obscure and unintelligible. The tale pieces are at 

 an humble distance from Bewick's : one of them 

 is, however, well hit off — a cart full of boxes in 

 which the driver is asleep, unmindful of the " with 

 speed' 1 '' on the luggage : the horse equally un- 

 conscious of the importance of charge, is quietly 

 grazing by the road side. The work is a pretty one, 

 but might have been much better. 



British Songsters ; being Popular Descriptions of the British Choristers 

 of the Groves ; by Neville Wood, Esq. 1836. 



The work of which we have just given the title, 

 will shortly appear, though we regret to say that it 

 will not be illustrated by cuts. It will contain 



