3534 Birds. 



Not to know Knox argues oneself unknown : but however humiliat- 

 ing may be the confession, we candidly confess that we never heard of 

 Knox until this his volume was placed in our hands. On inquiry it 

 turns out that Knox is a Celtic lecturer, who has achieved auto-great- 

 ness by adopting some of the extravagant hypotheses of the German 

 naturalists, and by numbering among his pupils a few canny Celts, 

 who have quartered themselves comfortably on the Anglo-Saxon pub- 

 lic : but if he ever did any good in the educational line, he must have 

 had a better temper and more patience than he now possesses ; for, to 

 read his book, one would conclude that, like a vicious horse, he care- 

 fully eschewed work, and devoted his energies entirely to kicking and 

 biting. 



In conclusion, we have no sympathy with a writer whose vanity is 

 so egregious, whose prejudices are so violent, and whose views of sci- 

 ence and literature are so narrowed, as those of Dr. Knox. 



Description of the Yellow-backed Whidah Finch killed in Oxford- 

 shire in September, 1851. By the Rev. A. Matthews. 



In the month of November last I informed you of the occurrence 

 of the yellow-backed Whidah finch in this country ; and I now for- 

 ward a description and figure of the specimen, together with such 

 other information as I have been able to collect. 



The species has been described by Swainson, in the ' Naturalists' 

 Library' (vol. vii.), as the Vidua Chrysonotus ; and it is also figured 

 and described by Viellot, in his ' Oiseaux Chanteurs ' (pi. 41), under 

 the name of Fringilla chrysoptera. From this latter author we learn 

 that there is a great difference between the summer plumage of the 

 two sexes, the female, throughout the year, being clothed in a plain 

 drab-coloured garb, much resembling in its markings that of our 

 common bunting ; while, during the summer months, its mate is gaily 

 dressed in a suit of bright glossy black, bearing on the shoulders a 

 mantle of brilliant yellow, and adorned on the back of its neck with 

 an ample ruff of elongated recurved feathers. On the approach of 

 winter, however, all his ornaments are laid aside, and the male bird 

 then assumes the more sober colour of his partner. 



The specimen now before us admirably illustrates this periodical 

 change ; we here see. the plain drab colour gradually superseding the 

 more brilliant hues of summer ; while on the back of the neck a few 



