12 
REVIEWS. 
forms, causing, at the same time, the loss of the lives of young depending upon 
the parent birds. Much as writers may object to the battue of game in an over¬ 
stocked preserve, yet there is a possible excuse to plead in one case, as game birds 
are shot at a time when the young are not dependent upon them, and when shot are 
of value as an article of food. 
“ Even were the habits of these birds otherwise than harmless, their wanton de¬ 
struction is pitiable, and if a particle of the strictness extended over the care of a 
few game were used in the prevention of these excesses, all might be remedied, of 
which, as remarked in a correspondence with Mr. Thompson-, the owners of rocky 
islets and headlands, where those birds frequent to breed, are highly culpable in 
permitting such slaughter upon their property, places where, in a few years, whole 
species will be extirpated, and known only as occasional visitants to the island. 
Having, in many instances, mentioned Lambay as a breeding haunt for sea-fowl, it 
may not be uninteresting to enumerate the different species which tenant the pre¬ 
cipitous eastern side of the island during the season of incubation:—The common 
and green cormorants, the common and black guillemots, razor-bill, puffin, 
shearwater, great and lesser black-backed gulls, herring and common gulls, and 
kittiwakes. 
“ Amongst the land-birds which frequent the same face of the rocks, we find the 
peregrine (rarely of late years), the kestrel, raven, hooded crow, jackdaw, and 
stare (the chough is also said to nidify in rare instances), the wlieatear, window 
martin, swift, and rock pigeon.” 
This last extract is interesting from the fact, that were it not for the 
murderous attacks made in Lambay and other islands upon the feathered 
tribe, while preparing their nests, and engaged with the care of their 
young, we might have a second Bass rock on our Irish coast, and even 
exceeding it in the variety of its inhabitants. Although we do not wish to 
be too censorious in our review of this pleasing work, yet we would advise 
the author to study theology better before hazarding such opinions as those 
contained in the 64th page. On the whole, we think this volume deserves 
to be widely circulated, and we heartily recommend it to our readers. It 
abounds with anecdote, and is written in a popular style. They will find it 
to be an accurate history of our Irish birds—detailing most of them inte¬ 
resting features. The author has availed himself of the continental 
writers, as well as those of his own country, and has added the synonyms 
of Temminck to those of Linnaeus and others. The typography and paper 
are of the best description, reflecting great credit on the publishers. 
Nereis Boreali Americana ; or, Contributions to a History of the 
Marine Alg,e of North America. By William Henry Harvey, M.D., 
M.B.I.A., Keeper of the Herbarium of the University of Dublin, and 
Professor of Botany to the Royal Dublin Society. Part I.—-Melanos- 
permeae. Part II.—Rhodospermeae. Published by the Smithsonian 
Institution, Washington ; and London, Van Voorst. 
These memoirs, from the pen of Dr. Harvey, already so well known to 
British algologists, by his Manual of British Algae and Phycologia 
Britannica , will be welcomed by all who are engaged in the study of the 
