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on safe ground; and the mist and obscurity is still so palpable that the assurances 
of the very best guides fail to convince us that the ground is not shaking around 
us, or that the hypothetical causeway we are trusting to may not in reality at last 
deposit us in some unfathomable gulf, instead of safely landing us on the “ old” or 
“ new red,” as the case may be. Ornithology, on the other hand, has passed 
through its incubationary processes in safety ; we feel no doubt as to the science 
that stands arrayed before us in full plumage—we see the museum display to our 
charmed eyes the assiduous labours of collectors from every region of the globe 
—the feathered choristers of the groves are themselves in our view in the green 
wood—and volume after volume wings its flight, decorated by the pencil of the 
best artists, and illustrated by the commentaries of scientific research, to convey 
their histories and their economy before the whole world. 
But when we call this the golden age of ornithology we are not only referring 
to the magnificent productions of an Audubon or a Gould. Planches Enluminees 
and Birds of Paradise have long ago graced the libraries of the prince and the 
noble ; and it may be seen, on reference to the pages of Mr. Swainson in the 
Cabinet Cyclopaedia , how easily three hundred and fifty pounds might be laid out 
in illustrated works on ornithology recommended by that gentleman. But these 
are luxuries not to be thought of by the student, and perhaps regarded only with 
wishful eyes by many a practical naturalist. It remained for the present age to 
produce a series of illustrations alike correct in a scientific view, interesting as 
works of art, and, from their moderate price, within the reach of every member of 
the social community. This is exemplified in the beautiful work now before us. 
We shall now proceed to an examination of the Naturalist''s Library seriatim. 
The two first volumes embrace the Trochilidce , or Humming Birds, with memoirs 
of Linneus and Pennant. The preceding account of the distribution and economy 
of this richly decorated tribe is extremely interesting. The delineations of the 
birds are, in general, very good, though the colouring seems to us, in many in¬ 
stances, dull, and inadequate to express the jewelled splendour of the originals. 
But we have in our eye the Humming Birds of Bullock as they once glittered in 
their effulgence before us, and more recently that magnificent case of Leadbetter’s, 
on which the sun seldom shines, but the effect of which, when traversed by a beam 
of light, can rarely be paralleled. The third volume contains the Gallinaceous Birds, 
with a memoir of Aristotle. Here the artist is evidently more at home; the 
colouring is improved, and the figures are seen to greater advantage before a 
freely-etched, picturesque, but uncoloured, background. Gallus Sonneratii 
(female), Phasianus torquatus , Phasianus veneratus, and Tragopan Hastingsii , 
are particularly good. The fourth volume contains the Game Birds, with a me¬ 
moir of Sir Thomas Stamford Raffles. A few of the plates seem rather coarse, 
but, on the other hand, the British Grouse are admirably delineated from the 
pencil of Selby himself. The fifth volume embraces the Pigeons, with a memoir 
