6 
REVIEWS. 
earth is bound by an icy chain, or because the flowers on which it feeds 
have gone to rest for a short season, in spring to arise again in fresh loveli¬ 
ness ; no—every day is spring, or summer, or autumn in those lands, and 
winter, in all its sternness, is unknown. Why, then, must they be away? 
Our swallows and summer birds leave us it is true; but, then, they love 
perpetual sunshine, and need perpetual supplies of insect food, which that 
sunshine calls into life; and equally good are the reasons that guide the 
migratory powers of the Trochilidae. Beautiful though be the climes they 
live in, yet, as if it were to verify the vulgar saying, “ that there is no part 
of the earth without its drawbacks,” those countries are at seasons sub¬ 
ject to perpetual rains, which drench, and almost inundate, their abodes, or 
to frightful hurricanes, that, in a few short moments, leave only a wreck 
of what was before so magnificent and luxuriant; and so, before any 
such disasters have happened, these birds pass over to other lands, where 
the reparation of a previous wreck is proceeding with all the magical 
rapidity of tropical vegetation. To enable them to accomplish in safety these 
journeys, often of a long duration, and during which they have sometimes 
to withstand a passing gale, showers, or even the rigour of a snow storm, 
we find them gifted with wings of a large size, and quills of a great 
strength, entirely out of proportion to our ideas of symmetry in a creature 
clothed with feathers, did we not take into consideration their migratory 
disposition, and, then, the utility and design of them become most obvious. 
But the fascination which attaches itself to this “gay creation” has led us 
far from our original task ; in resuming it we will enumerate the various 
works of importance that have been devoted to the history of these birds. We 
pass over the accounts of single individuals, given us by Wilson, Audubon, 
Bullock, and, lately, by Gosse, in his “Birds of Jamaica,” and shall only 
notice those works that can be compared to the “Monograph” before us:— 
first, in 1820-23, M. C. J. Temminck published his “Nouveau Recueil des 
Planches Colorees des Oiseaux, pour servir de Suite en de complement aux 
Planches Enluminees de Buflfon.” Quarto, with plates. In comparing this 
work with the one before us, we cannot but be struck with the unsatisfac¬ 
tory nature of the descriptions, while very little notice is taken of the habits 
of the birds. The plates also are a little too highly coloured, and would 
lead to the impression that they had been drawn from stuffed specimens. 
Secondly, in 1829, M. R. P. Lesson published his “Histoire Naturelle des 
Oiseaux Mouches,” with 86 coloured plates; in 1831, his “Hist. Nat. des 
Colibres,” with 66 plates; and, in 1834, his“Les Trochilides,”with 70 plates. 
These are three most beautiful volumes; the plates are delicately executed; 
and, up to the date of the publication of Mr. Gould’s “Monograph,” were the 
