550 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



History, sometimes occurs alone, sometimes as forming volume 

 -~v— -^ third of the preceding series. A complete collection of 

 Le Vaillant's works forms of itself a noble gallery of or- 

 nithological portraits. The letter-press, more especially 

 that of the Oiseaux d'Afrique, is also of great value, and 

 will be studied with additional advantage by those familiar 

 with the delightful narrative of his first and second Tra- 

 vels into the Interior of Africa, 1790-95. 



As belonging to the same class of works, and also of ex- 

 cellent execution, may be mentioned Desmaret's Histoire 

 Nalurelle des Tangaras, des Manakins, etdes Todiers, 1 vol. 

 folio, 1805. M. Vieillot, who died in 1828, after a very 

 active career in Ornithology, is the author of the following 

 works, all of a sumptuous character, and of considerable 

 value in their way, though inferior in beauty to those of the 

 two preceding authors. Histoire Naturelle des plus beaux 

 Oiseaux Chanteurs de la Zone Torride, 1 vol. folio, 1805 ; — 

 Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de I 'Amerique Septentrionale, 



2 vols, folio, 1807 ; — Galerie des Oiseaux, 4 vols. 4to, 

 1826, an extensive series of figures, chiefly from the col- 

 lection of the museum in the Garden of Plants. M. Vieil- 

 lot is likewise the continuator of Audebert's Histoire des 

 Oiseaux dores, ou a reflets metalliques (2 vols, folio, com- 

 menced in 1802) ; and has written largely on systematic 

 Ornithology in the Encyclopedic Methodique (Ornitholo- 

 gie, by the Abbe Bonnaterre, continued by M. Vieillot, 



3 vols. 4to, besides the plates, Paris, 1823) ; and in the 

 Nouveau Dictionnaire d Histoire Naturelle. Lastly, he in- 

 dicated various new groups, or at least a variety of groups 

 under new names, in his Analyse d'une Nouvelle Ornitholo- 

 gie Elementaire, Paris, 1816 ; a work which seems to have 

 occasioned great offence to M. Temminck, 1 and some dis- 

 satisfaction to Baron Cuvier. 2 



Alexander Wilson's admirable American Ornithology, or 

 Natural History of the Birds of the United States, was pub- 

 lished in nine volumes quarto (including Mr Ord's Supple- 

 ment) between 1808-14. It still maintains its character as 

 a work of the highest value, and although it has been since 

 surpassed by other works in elegance of design and beauty 

 of colouring, its descriptive or narrative portion has been 

 scarcely equalled. Of this most remarkable production 

 several editions have been published in America, and two 

 in this country, viz. one by Professor Jameson, in a cheap 

 and commodious form (four small volumes of Constable's 

 Miscellany, No. 68 — 71, 1831), with the advantage of a 

 systematic arrangement of the original materials, — another 

 by Sir William Jardine (in three large 8vo volumes, 1832), 

 with plates, and consequently of higher price, but enriched 

 by numerous notes of great value. 



We may here name the General Zoology, in fourteen 

 volumes octavo, 1800-26, commenced by Dr Shaw, and 

 concluded by Mr Stephens. The last seven volumes are 

 devoted to Ornithology. Most of the plates are copies. II- 

 liger's excellent Prodromus Mammalium et Avium was pub- 

 lished at Berlin in one volume octavo, 1811. It establishes 

 several new and important genera. 



The first edition of the Regne Animal of Baron Cuvier 

 (four vols. 8vo) appeared in 1817 ; the second (in five vols. 

 8vo) was published in 1829. We need say nothing of the 

 surpassing excellence of a work which cast the whole sub- 

 ject of Zoology into a new and more natural form, nor of 

 the unequalled labours of the illustrious author, by whom 

 the structure and characters of so many important groups 

 have been brought from darkness into light. The general 

 features of his system have, with few exceptions, been 

 steadily adhered to throughout the zoological treatises of 



this Encyclopaedia, and (which is more to be admired) do History. 

 equally pervade and illumine the labours of many modern s "" ""V""" 

 authors who yet place themselves in opposition to his doc- 

 trines, and seem to have forgotten, or been blinded by, the 

 dazzling source from which they drew their " golden light ;" 

 as if the false though gorgeous glory of a cloud could of it- 

 self adorn the beauty of the azure heavens, — as if the re- 

 flection of a sparkling river were any thing more than the 

 borrowed lustre of the " Great Apollo." Let the reader 

 rest assured, that however praise-worthy may be the skill 

 and devotedness of our ingenious system-makers, or how- 

 ever valuable may be the materials which they have brought 

 to bear upon isolated portions of nature's most majestic 

 kingdom, they are yet separated, by the will of God, in head 

 and hand, " longissimo intervallo," from their great master. 

 This is no reason, but the reverse, for their ceasing to 

 exercise their useful talents and natural powers of obser- 

 vation with assiduity and patience, as becomes alike the 

 aspiring philosopher and the humble Christian ; — but let 

 no man mistake " the spirit he is of," nor suppose an owl 

 an eagle, seeing that not in every acceptation of the phrase 

 is it true, that " a living dog is better than a dead lion." 



The natural history of the birds of Germany has been 

 amply and successfully illustrated by the well-known works 

 of Naumann (father and son), by those of Bechstein, and 

 of Messrs Meyer and Wolf. We owe to M. Leisler a 

 Supplement to the work of Bechstein (Hanau, 1812-13), 

 and of Naumann's Naturgeschichte der Vogel Deuischlands, 

 a second edition (in octavo), with beautifully coloured plates, 

 was commenced in 1820, but has not yet attained comple- 

 tion. Meyer and Wolf's Taschenbuch der Deutschen Vo- 

 gelkunde now amounts to three volumes, and is filled with 

 excellent observations, while their large illustrated work 

 on German birds, commenced so far back as 1804, and re- 

 cently brought to a conclusion, is one of the most beauti- 

 ful with which we are acquainted. M. Brehm published 

 his Beitrage zur Deutschen Vogelkunde in 1820-22, in three 

 large volumes, filled with minute details, which exhibit an 

 accurate practical knowledge of the science. The author's 

 views of species are peculiar. His Lehrbuch der Natur- 

 geschichte aller Europaischen Vogel (two volumes) was pub- 

 lished in the following year. In this, too, he surely describes 

 local races, or accidental varieties, as distinct species. To 

 M. Brehm we likewise owe several fasciculi of a work com- 

 menced in 1824, and published at intervals, under the title 

 of Ornis. It consists of memoirs and memoranda, by va- 

 rious authors, relating chiefly to Ornithology. Lastly, we 

 may here name his Handbuch der Naturgeschichte aller Vo- 

 gel Deutschlands (Ilmenau, 183 1), forming a goodly volume 

 of 1100 pages octavo (with plates), which, M. Temminck 

 remarks, may be reduced to at least one half, by suppress- 

 ing the numerous indications of what the author calls sub- 

 species. His system is partitioned into twenty-three orders, 

 variously subdivided, and containing 196 genera. 



Some important additions have been made of late years 

 to the Ornithology of northern countries. The birds of 

 Sweden are described by Professor Nilson of Lund, in 

 his Ornithologia Suecica, Copenhagen, 1817-21. The 

 same author published a Skandinavischen Fauna in 1824 ; 

 and a much more sumptuous work appeared at Lund in 

 1832, under the title of llluminerade figurer till Skandi- 

 naviens Fauna, mit text. The first volume contains, be- 

 sides quadrupeds, seventy-five figures of birds. In 1822 

 M. Boie gave forth his Tagebuch gehallen auf einer Reise 

 durch Norwegen, in which, along with the narrative of his 

 travels, he furnishes many valuable observations on the 



1 See his Observation mr la Classification Methodique det Oiseaux, &c. 1817 ; and Manuel a" ' Ornithologie, Introduction to the second 

 edition, p. x. 



3 Jiegne Animal, second edition, torn. i. note to Preface, p. 23. 



