42 



Illustrations of British Ornithology, by P. J. 

 Selby, Esq. 2 Vols. 8vo. Edinburgh. 1833. 

 £l. Is. 2d. edition. 



The most masterly work, on the whole, that has 

 yet appeared on the birds of Britain. The first 

 edition is on the system of Temminck, with one or 

 two improvements, as, for instance, the removing 

 from the genus Sylvia of Latham the Common 

 Wren and Goldcrested Kinglet. The descriptions 

 of habits, nidification, &c, are sufficiently fall for 

 a systematic work, and always correct. In this 

 edition only the land birds w T ere described. Thus 

 much for the letterpress ; — the plates now claim 

 our attention. These are executed on " a scale 

 hitherto un attempted" — elephant folio — and are 

 all drawn and coloured from Nature, by the author. 

 Every individual of the families Falconidae and 

 Strigidae would make a perfect picture of itself, so 

 beautifully and correctly are they executed. Few 

 of the others come up to these, in our opinion, and 

 we are sorry to add, that the talented author has 

 entirely failed in the delineation of the Sylviada 

 and Fringillidai. We regret this the more, as the 

 figures of the Falcon and Owl families have cer- 

 tainly never been equalled — even by Gould and 

 Audubon. Let us now proceed to an analysis of 

 the second edition of the Illustrations. 



The system here followed is the Quinary, as 

 drawn up by Vigors, and as improved by Swain- 

 son; the first volume containing the land birds 

 ( Rapt ores, Insessores, and Rasores), the second 

 the aquatic ( Grallatores and NatatoresJ. The 

 distinguishing characters of the several orders, 

 tribes, families, subfamilies, and genera, are given 

 in a concise and clear manner, which is indeed 

 indispensable in a system so complicated as the 

 Quinary. The author has evidently a full know- 



