REVIEWS. 
A History of the Rarer Species of British Birds. By T. C. Eyton, Esq. 
Intended as a supplement to the History of British Birds by the late Thomas 
Bewick. Illustrated with Wood-cuts. Longman and Co., London. Three 
Parts, 8vo. 1836. 
The Ornithologist's Text-Book. Being Reviews of Ornithological Works, with 
an Appendix containing Discussions on various Topics of Interest . By 
Neville Wood, Esq. Small 8vo., pp. 232. Parker, London. 1836. 
British Song Birds. Being popular Descriptions and Anecdotes of the Cho¬ 
risters of the Groves. By Neville Wood, Esq., &c. Small 8vo., pp. 408. 
Parker, London. 1836. 
If the length and rapidity of the stride be at all commensurate with the stir 
which the science of Ornithology is, at present, making among us ; if the quality 
of the information which they are destined to impart, hear anything like a fair 
proportion to the number and costliness of the works that are monthly, weekly, 
and almost daily, issuing from the press of Britain, the luckless birds will hence¬ 
forth have but a very sorry time of it. Their domiciles and their haunts will, 
more than ever, be broken in upon by the reckless hand of the oological plunderer, 
and the prowling foot of the ornithological spy. The march of intellect will speed¬ 
ily achieve, among the feathered tribes, the work of ruin and dispersion which the 
march of population has long since begun. The Eagle will be finally driven from 
her eyrie in the precipice. There will no longer be a wilderness for the Owl, nor 
marsh for the “ booming Bittern.” Our hedge-rows will cease to be a place of 
secure deposit for the bright-blue eggs of the elegant little Dunnock: our eaves, 
to afford their wonted sanctuary to the faithful and confiding Swallow. Amid the 
rapidly increasing taste for ornithological pursuits on the one hand, and the daring 
encroachments of gas and steam and the ceaseless extension of human enterprize 
and dwellings on the other, our nocturnal and diurnal birds will seek in vain, 
throughout the land, for their congenial darkness and solitudes: and amid the uni¬ 
versal rise of the waters of Science and the spring-tide of advancing population, 
the dove of Britain will find no spot whereon to rest her weary foot. 
In addition to the three new works, whose titles are transcribed at the head of 
this Article, several others have already been published during the present year ; 
many are in course of publication ; and yet more have been announced. Of the 
works which have actually appeared since the commencement of 1836, the Ra- 
