SIR WM. JAHDINE ON HUMMING BIRDS. 



167 



of the pretty little birds chosen by Sir William Jardine as the leading 

 subject of his Naturalist's Library. " Of all animated beings," 

 says the Count, *' this is the most elegant in form and most splendid 

 in colouring. Precious stones and metals artificially polished can 

 never be compared to this jewel of nature, who has placed it in the order 

 of birds at the bottom of the scale of magnitude — maxime miranda in 

 minimis — while all the gifts, which are only shared among others — nim- 

 bleness, rapidity, sprightliness, grace, and rich decoration — have been 

 profusely bestowed upon this little favourite. The emerald, the ruby, 

 and the topaz, sparkle in its plumage, which is never soiled by the dust 

 of the ground, for its whole life being aerial, it rarely alights on the 

 turf. It dwells in the air, and flitting from flower to flower it seems to 

 be itself a flower in freshness and splendour ; it feeds on their nectar 

 and resides in climates where they blow in perpetual succession ; for 

 the few which migrate out of the tropics during summer, make but a 

 transitory stay in the temperate zones. They follow the course of the 

 sun, advancing or retiring with him, and flying on the wings of the 

 zephyrs, wanton in eternal spring." 



Such then are the birds which Mr. Lizars has, in the volume before 

 us, undertaken to exhibit, with his well-known skill, in their natural 

 colours ; and Sir William Jardine, to characterise, by descriptive dis- 

 tinctions. The engravings are the most extraordinary feature of the 

 book, when we consider the price ; for, besides a beautifully-finished 

 nest as a vignette to the title-page, there are thirty-four plates of 

 birds, as scientifically accurate in the details, as rich and exquisite in 

 colouring. Besides these there are a number of cuts, none of which, 

 however, are equal in execution to the rest of the work ; and a por- 

 trait of Linnaeus, so admirable in character and so delicately finished, as 

 to be well worth the whole price at which the volume is published. It 

 represents the extraordinary man who has done so much good and so 

 much injury to our science, at the age of twenty-five, in his Lapland 

 dress, with plant-boxes and other travelling apparatus hung at his girdle, 

 and holding in his hand a specimen of Linnaea borealis. The coun- 

 tenance exhibits little of the enthusiasm which must have inspired the 

 young botanist to wander over Lapland in search of plants, but is 

 sedate and contemplative, as if his thoughts were absorbed in some 

 engrossing idea — the idea, no doubt, of indexing the whole productions 

 of creation, taking for his starting point the pretty plant which he 

 holds in his hand. 

 The memoir of Linnaeus, with which Sir William Jardine has prefaced 



