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ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF BIRDS. 



than one of the figures are made up from description alone ; 

 there are, nevertheless, many rare species represented, particu- 

 larly of the tropical genera Amadina and Estrelda Sw.; but 

 there are very many birds of Europe and North America in- 

 troduced, in order, apparently to make up the volume. It 

 is a pretty show-book, and may be consulted occasionally, 

 with great advantage. 



Vieillot. Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de 1' Amerique Sep - 

 tentrionalc, contenant un grand nombre d'Especes decrites 

 pour la premiere fois. Par. L. P. Vieillot. 



The author describes many of these birds from personal ob- 

 servation in their native country ; but he has likewise intro- 

 duced those which he has not seen, upon the authority of 

 Pennant and Latham. The work is useful as a book of re- 

 ference, but can neither rank in merit with that of Wilson, 

 or in execution with those of Le Vaillant. 



Audibert and Vieillot. Histoire Naturelle et Generate des 

 Oiseaux Dor£s. 2 vol. folio. Paris, 1802. 



There are two impressions of this work, one in folio, the 

 other in quarto ; in the first of which, the names upon the 

 plates (180 in number) are printed in gold. The figures 

 are accurate, without being well drawn ; they represent the 

 Humming birds, Jacamars, Promerops, Creepers, Sun birds, 

 and Paradise birds. 



Le Vaillant. Histoire Naturelle des Perroquets. Par Fran- 

 cois Le Vaillant. Paris, 1801-1805. 2 vol. royal folio (or 

 quarto). 



With the exception of a few of the plates at the commence- 

 ment of the first volume, the whole are executed from 

 drawings by the celebrated Barrabaud, the first artist who 

 ventured to represent the varied attitudes of birds, at the 

 same time preserving all that accuracy of detail so essential 

 to their scientific characters. No painter of the present day 

 can surpass, or perhaps equal, many of the exquisite designs 

 contained in this and the subsequent volumes, enriched by 

 the same pencil. The letter-press, although not scientific, is 

 full of accurate detail and of valuable information. The 

 number of plates are 1 39, printed in colours, and finished by 

 the hand ; in many of the copies, however, the tints are too 

 rich, and " overstep the modesty of nature, ' The quarto edi- 

 tion is precisely similar to the folio, except in the size of the 

 paper. 



Le Vaillant Histoire Naturelle des Oiseaux de Paradis. \ 

 1 vol. folio. 



Equally splendid with the preceding. The size and 

 extraordinary plumage of the Paradise birds requires a 

 scale fully equal to the dimensions of this volume, which 



