190 ornithologist's text-book. 



ters. With regard to the commoner birds, the 

 biographies will be entirely original, and some- 

 times, we hope, new, but in the case of very rare 

 visitants or stragglers, we prefer extracting the 

 account of some standard author, verbatim, to 

 botching and pasting up an apparently original 

 description of our own. Thus far, compilation is 

 allowable, in order to fill up gaps in a work which 

 would otherwise be incomplete, but to detail all 

 the commonest circumstances in the words of other 

 authors, is unpardon able. " Professor Nudirostris" 

 (we will not say who has employed this epithet 

 before us), with a host of House Sparrow's nests 

 on his table, and " under his nose", must needs 

 repair to his very extensive library, and, having 

 pored over all the ornithological volumes — both 

 old and new — in his collection, selects the accounts 

 of two or three authors (perhaps by a lucky chance 

 one of the descriptions is correct!), cuts them out 

 with his very efficient pair of scissors, and pastes 

 them on his own conglomerate, with all the despatch 

 of a compiler long inured in his art! This is the 

 kind of thing we despise and condemn, but occa- 

 sional and judicious compilation is frequently not 

 only useful, but necessary. 



We cannot inform our readers when this work 

 will appear, but it will be carried on with as 

 little delay as possible, and will probably form 

 a foolscap octavo volume. If we can get it 

 illustrated with original figures, it will be an ad- 

 vantage. In conclusion, we need- only observe, 

 that any communications on the British songbirds, 

 either facts or anecdotes, and however apparently 

 trivial, will be gratefully accepted, and duly and 

 immediately acknowledged. Such favors will be 

 printed at the end of each description. Valuable 

 communications have already been received, from 

 Chas. Liverpool, Esq., M.D., Mr. Edward Blyth, 



