PEEFACE. 



It lias long been a complaint among amateur 

 Naturalists, and those who are commencing the 

 study of Natural History, that no account of the 

 works relating to this delightful subject has yet 

 been published. The present volume is, accord- 

 ingly, intended to supply the desideratum with 

 regard to what may perhaps be considered the 

 most interesting branch of the science, and it will, 

 we hope, and indeed anticipate, prove a useful 

 guide to the Ornithologist in the choice of his 

 books. That it is not so complete as might be 

 wished, especially as regards the less important 

 works of the continental writers, we freely admit, 

 but we think that no British work of importance is 

 omitted. 



If we have failed to notice any important works 

 of our continental brethren, we wish it to be clearly 

 understood that such omissions are occasioned by 

 our not having had access to the works, and not 

 by a wilful disregard of their merits. 



It may be objected, on the other hand, that we 

 have reviewed several works unworthy of notice, 

 such as the barefaced compilations and " conglo- 

 merates 1 ' of " Alphabet Rennie," and the Ornitho- 

 logia of Jennings ; but we answer that the evil 

 practices of this tribe of " literary Lestri" should 

 be exposed. 



We have given short notices of the beautiful 

 and expensive illustrative monographs of Vieillot, 

 Desmarest, Lesson, and other French Naturalists, 

 as it is only necessary, with regard to these, to state 

 whether the plates are well or ill executed, and 



