‘ Birds of Europe not observed in the British Isles.' 81 
IX .—Review of Mr. Breeds ‘Birds of Europe not observed in 
the British Isles.’* 
It is a matter of great regret that the ornithology of Europe 
has been hitherto so little studied by British naturalists. This 
fact has always been regarded with wonder by our continental 
brethren,—very naturally, too, when they think that of the 
troops of tourists who annually swarm over Europe, how vast 
a majority are our fellow-countrymen, and reflect that in 
England the study of Natural History is scarcely pursued but 
by amateurs for their own gratification. We confess that it is 
not easy to account for this. Perhaps the chief cause is the 
comparative rarity with which birds present themselves on the 
Continent. How often, when questioning a friend just returned 
from his summer’s trip to Holland, up the Bhine, or among the 
Alps—or, it may be from exploring the passes of the Pyrenees, 
the cones of Mount Etna, or the fjelds of Norway—as to what he 
may have observed of the feathered tribes during his rambles, 
has the answer been, “O, there are no birds abroad l” and thus 
it has come to be believed that the Continent is nearly as unavi- 
ferous as Lake Avernus itself! Yet the birds are there, if tra¬ 
vellers will but look for them, and birds, too, possessing great 
interest even to those ornithologists who confine their attention 
solely to the species found within the compass of the four seas. 
But we trust that a spirit of more extended research is growing 
up, that soon the continental reproach may be taken away, and 
that our fellow-countrymen, as regards Natural History, may 
no longer be sneered at as “ penitus toto divisos orbe JBritannos.” 
The Englishman is catholic enough in his other sympathies : he 
knows to a nicety the points wherein St. Peter’s surpasses St. 
Paul’s, can compare the merits of York Minster and Cologne 
Cathedral, has an opinion of his own as to the best means of pre¬ 
serving the faded remains of Leonardo da Vinci’s master-piece, 
just as he has with regard to the right mode, if any, of restoring 
the national pictures in Trafalgar Square; he pronounces au- 
* A History of the Birds of Europe not observed in the British Isles, illus¬ 
trated with accurately-coloured Plates. By C. R. Bree, Esq. London: 
Groombridge and Sons. [Tn course of publication.] 
VOL. I. G 
