Herr Badeker’s and Dr. Brewer’s Oological Works. 401 
logists who smile with benignant pity at the simplicity of those 
followers of old Sir Thomas Brown’s example who make a study 
of egg-shells. Not recognizing the possibility of deducing from 
them any ideas worthy to be entertained by sensible men, they re¬ 
gard the possessors of egg-cabinets simply as weak victims of an 
uncontrollable propensity for acquisitiveness, much indeed as Cap¬ 
tain Lemuel Gulliver, of veracious memory, looked upon the 
Yahoos with their hoards of shining stones, whereof they were 
so “ violently fond.” But the number of these ornithological 
purists is decreasing, and at any rate there are persons enough 
—among whom we hope to count a majority of our readers— 
who think differently from them, and we will therefore waste 
no time in attempting to convert the remainder, or in offering 
any excuses for occupying these pages with a somewhat general 
article on Oology. 
Both the works of which the titles stand at the head of this 
paper are most welcome additions to egg-literature. To that of 
Herr Fr. W. J. Badeker we shall give priority of notice, since it 
saw the light before Dr. Brewer’s. Brief allusion to its merits 
has already been made in a former N umber of the f Ibis ’ {antea, 
p. 203), and that it will be found of great utility to naturalists 
is not to be doubted; but it is fair to say that it has some draw¬ 
backs, among which its unnecessarily large size and the irregu¬ 
larity of its appearance are not inconsiderable. There are, 
besides, certain defects in the execution of the plates, of which we 
shall presently speak. With all this, however, it is to be highly 
commended. Four parts ( Lieferungen ) are now before us, each of 
which contains eight plates, comprising numerous figures, often 
indeed a good series, of varieties of the same species. Thus are 
afforded representations of no less than five examples of the eggs 
of Buteo leucurus , eight of Sterna hirundo, and of others in like 
proportion, and the specimens chosen for illustration, as far as 
we are able to judge, are generally well selected. When it is 
considered that in this portion of the work upwards of six 
hundred and eighty eggs are figured, while as yet but about two 
hundred nominal * species are treated of, some accurate notion 
* Of course it is only natural that Herr Ludwig Brehm, who, assisted by 
Herr W. Passler. is the author of the letter-press accompanying Herr 
YOL. I. 2 F 
