ST. JAMES’S ORNITHOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 
We have received a prospectus of this society, the object of which is stated to 
be the “ forming a collection of water-birds in the garden of St. James’s Park ; 
and its operations will subsequently be extended to other parks, if the funds of 
the society be found sufficient.” As naturalists, every project of this nature has 
our sincere wishes for its success, and perhaps, as the moderate subscription of 
one pound is all that is required, some of our readers may be pleased to take the 
opportunity of assisting an institution which will doubtless afford facilities for “ ob¬ 
servations upon the variations and periodical change of plumage, which are so in¬ 
teresting to naturalists.” The names of Yarrell, Swainson, Mudie, and Jesse, so 
well known in the scientific world, are a pledge that some useful purpose is designed 
by, and will be obtained from, the “ Ornithological Society.” But if purposes of 
show only were intended we should still advocate the plan as a probable means of 
raising the standard of taste among the lower orders in London, who may now, 
perhaps, for the first time observe the members of the feathered tribes without 
the mischievous wish to pelt them being gratified. Much has been done by the 
present age in this respect, and all we want is to see the principle carried out to 
its fullest extent, so that animals may be seen, admired, and examined, without the 
insane wish to bait, torture, or injure them. The birds in St. James’s Park wall 
have this advantage, that they will be “ open to the view of all classes of the 
people” every day, and thus even the poor mechanic and his family, shut out from 
light and almost Lope for a dreary week, may, in the intervals of public worship 
on Sundays, solace their eyes with a sight which no philanthropist would wish 
them to be deprived of. Living specimens, we perceive, of any of the rarer 
swans, geese, ducks, divers, grebes, waders, &c., will be very acceptable to the 
society, to whom we can only say “ Go on and prosper.” 
REVIEW. 
Sacred Philosophy of the Seasons ; illustrating the Perfections of God in the 
Phenomena of the Year. Part I.: Winter. By the Rev. Henry Duncan, 
D.D. Edinburgh. 1836. 
The author of this work furnishes a beautiful instance of one who is “ not 
weary in well-doing,” but who has been continually “ going about doing good.” 
After devoting many years in the earlier part of his life to ensure to the poorer 
classes of his countrymen the benefits of habits of prudence and economy, by 
