84 
Mr. Breeds ‘ Birds of Europe 
gentleman's name ; and we fear that after the completion of the 
next family, the Strigidee, we shall have to look in vain for that 
discreet Mentor, of whom, we suspect, our Telemachus stands 
greatly in need. Mr. Bree describes in these seven parts twenty- 
two species, which, as far as our knowledge at present goes, 
seems to be about the number of European Diurnal Baptores 
not to be found in Britain. But then we should strike out 
without hesitation a species which our author admits, and per¬ 
haps replace it by another not hitherto included in the Eu¬ 
ropean list. It is true that one or two of these rest upon 
“ dealers' authority," or rather, we should say, the authority 
of naturalists, to support which, dealers always have speci¬ 
mens at hand from the desired localities. Such an instance 
is, we take it, the case of the Sociable Vulture ( Otogyps auricu- 
laris, Gray), of which, as it has the credit of occurring in 
Greece, examples may usually be bought, said to have been ob¬ 
tained in that country, with the localities and dates marked on 
their labels, for aught we know, in the letters Cadmus gave, and 
according to the calendar Meton instituted. But of this par¬ 
ticular bird two examples are stated as having occurred in West¬ 
ern Europe, one of which was a few years since alive at Antwerp; 
and anyhow we think it may be pronounced to be an occasional 
visitant, and therefore admitted among the number. The Cine¬ 
reous Vulture ( Vultur monachus , L.)—the “ Vautour Arrian" of 
our neighbours—has a much better, nay, an undoubted claim to 
be included, rare though it be. We beg to add Albania as a 
locality for it to those hitherto enumerated, on the testimony of 
a roving and bird-loving friend, who not long since was on a 
shooting excursion in that country, and saw there a “ big black 
fellow" about sixty yards from him. The Vultur kolbii } a phan¬ 
tom which once haunted the European list, has now long since 
been laid; and our author, very properly, shows no disposition to 
raise him again. With the help of quotations from Bruce and 
Tschudi, Mr. Bree discourses eloquently respecting the Bearded 
Vulture ( Gypaetus barbatus, Cuv.j, the pride of European plun¬ 
derers ; but, considering that by many naturalists the Gypaete 
from Abyssinia is regarded as a distinct species, we think him 
hardly prudent in referring Bruce's entertaining anecdote to the 
