472 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



interleaved copy of the twelfth edition of the ' Systema Naturae ' 

 (1766), — the last published in his lifetime, — which is preserved in 

 the library of the Linnean Society. In this copy we find the 

 necessary correction of the specific name from scomber to scorn- 

 brus, showing clearly that he had no intention of taking the 

 course upon which Dr. Sharpe and others now insist. The 

 sooner, therefore, this misapprehension is removed the better for 

 future students of Ornithology. 



As to the information given in regard to the occurrence of 

 the "rarer visitors" to Great Britain, we do not find it so 

 complete or detailed as it should be in a new book on British 

 Birds ; but possibly this may be due to the exigencies of space, 

 and the wish of the publishers to condense as much as 

 possible, having regard to the number of volumes which the 

 series is to contain. The old plates, many of which are mis- 

 placed, we never admired ; the figures are flat and the outlines 

 hard. The few new ones by Mr. Keulemans which have been 

 introduced are far superior, and the old ones lose in merit by 

 comparison. Instead of figuring a number of well-known species 

 with which every one is more or less familiar, we should much 

 have preferred to see the outlay expended upon the delineation 

 of certain less-known species, such as Phylloscopus siiperciliosus, 

 Hypolais icterina, Sylvia nisoria, Anthus cervinus, A. campestris, 

 and A. Richardi, Emberiza pusilla, E. rustica, and E. cioides, 

 Alauda brachydactyla, Fringilla serinus, F. canicapillus, and 

 others. It is true that good figures of these may be found in 

 other works, but that is tnfe^case of course with all the rest, and 

 were we to adopt this plea we might dispense altogether with 

 illustrations. 



It is far from our intention to disparage what Dr. Sharpe has 

 written. His long experience as an ornithologist, having consi- 

 derable knowledge of the birds not merely of Great Britain but 

 of the world, gives great weight to his words ; but it is precisely 

 on account of his authority that we venture, in all friendliness, 

 to protest against tertain portions of his teaching, as being inde- 

 fensible in principle, and calculated to retard rather than advance 

 the study of Ornithology. 



WEST, NEWMAN AN* CO., PIU^J^B^ePfAlTlhift GARDE*, LONDON, E.C, 



BBONSON LIBRARY 



