380 
REVIEWS OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. 
The specific characters are preceded by an “ introductory chapter” ot genera! 
observations on the Anatidce , but not calculated for analysis. 
Last in order, though not natives of the Emerald Isle, we shall notice the 
author’s Preface. He here acknowledges his obligations to Dr. Andrew Smith, 
the Earl of Derby, Mr. Charles Darwin, Mr. Yarrell, and Mr. Gould, for 
various services rendered by those gentlemen. He then proceeds to state that, 
subsequent to the composition of his Monograph , he has received Mr. Swainson’s 
recently-published Animals in Menageries , mentioning the changes of nomen¬ 
clature promulgated by that learned naturalist, but stating at the same time that 
he cannot agree with Mr. S. as to their propriety. Animals in Menageries seems 
a subject unsuited to Mr. Swainson’s pen. We have not seen the work, but 
according to Mr. Eyton “ there is little new in it as regards the class we at 
present are endeavouring to illustrate, the greater part of the letter-press being 
copied from Latham.” 
At the conclusion of his Preface the author passes unqualified censure on Herr 
Brehm’s work on the birds of Germany; but surely he must be too little 
acquainted with the language in which the book is written to be a competent 
judge of its merits, or else his carelessness is reprehensible, in quoting its title,— 
a Hanbuck aer Naturgeschite aller vogel Deutschlands.” In six words here are 
five mistakes ; for although M. Brehm’s work does not grace our library, we 
believe we are safe in stating that the real title is,— Handbuck der Naturgesckichte 
aller Vogel Deutschlands. These minutiae- —if such they be—are worth attending 
to in a monograph which will probably find its way into the hands of Continental 
naturalists. Neither English or foreign writers are sufficiently careful in this 
respect. 
Mr. Eyton is already favourably known to the ornithological world by his 
History of the Rarer British Birds ; and the present accurate and useful Mono¬ 
graph on the Anatidce will serve to fortify the esteem in which he is held as a 
scientific naturalist. 
Dear dens Miscellany. No. iii. March, 1839. London: Orr and Co.; 
Dearden , Nottingham. 8vo. pp. 64. 
Though principally devoted to literature, this pleasing and well-selected 
Magazine likewise contains a fair sprinkling of scientific miscellanea, as witness 
the article on “ Adaptations in Fishes” in the present number. We cannot but 
view with pleasure this addition to the periodical literature of the Provinces. 
