ZOOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL LITERATURE. 
4G7 
account of its having commenced a new era in Ornithology. It is really a sur¬ 
prising work when we consider its time of publication : the engravings are, of 
course, as bad as they can well be^ Ray’s Synopsis Avium (1713) is in some 
measure a transcript of his friend Willughby’s book. Frisch’s Vorstellung der 
Vogel (Berlin, 2 vols., folio, 1739—63), and Albin’s Natural Historg ofBirds^ 
barely deserve notice. It were impc^sible to bestow too high commenda¬ 
tion on Edwards’s Natural History of Uncommon Birds and Gleanings of 
Natural History (7 vols. 4to., 1743—64). They are invaluable works. Sepp’s 
Nederlandiscke Vogel, though indifferently executed, is perhaps useful as a fauna 
of the Netherlands. The descriptions in Brisson’s Orniihologie (6 vols. 4t0'.j 
1760) and Ornithologia (2 vols. 8vo., 1672) are accurate, but the plates very 
indifferent. It is with sincere pleasure that we here recommend the General 
Synopsis of Birds, by our late friend the distinguished Dr. Latham, published, 
so long ago as 1782, in five 4to. volumes. Though it necessarily contains many 
faults, both of omission and commission, it is to this day constantly quoted as a 
standard authority by the best ornithologists. The General History of Birds 
(10 vols., 4to., 1821—4) is only an enlarged edition of the Synopsis, and has not 
increased the reputation of its amiable and venerable author, who musLever 
be considered one of the greatest ornithologists this country has produced, 
Bechstein’s Gemeinnutzige Naturgeschichte der Vogel Deutschlands, his Orni- 
thologisches Taschenbuch, and his Cage Birds (translated by Rennie), have 
earned for the author a well-merited fame. 
W. Lewin’s Birds of Britain (8 vols. 4to., 1795—1801), once valuable, has 
long since ceased to be so considered; but W. J. Lewin’s Birds of New South 
Wales contains plates of permanent value.” Bewick’s British Birds is familiar 
to all our readers. The vignettes or tail-pieces in this publication still retain 
their original charm ; otherwise the work is any thing but indispensable. We 
shall not fatigue the reader with an enumeration of the splendid and costly illus¬ 
trated monographs of the continental ornithologists Desmarest, Vieillot, 
Lesson, Audebert, and others, especially as we have supplied their titles in full 
elsewhere. {Orn. Text-book, pp. 24 and 47). Levaillant’s Histoire Naturelle 
des Oiseaux d’ Afrique is an inestimable work (6 vols.,^ho or 4to., Paris, 1799). 
Montagu’s Ornithological Dictionary is deserving of all praise; and so far from 
being—as its name might imply—a dry book, it is one of the most interesting 
works on birds with which we are acquainted. A new edition is in preparation; 
and we would advise those who propose procuring the Colonel’s dictionary to wait 
for its publication rather than submit to purchase Rennie’s edition. 
Alexander Wilson’s American Ornithology has long been familiar to the 
reading public as one of the liveliest and most accurate works on this delightful 
subject in existence. Professor Jameson has published a heap and good edition 
