years ago, an octavo Atlas of the Birds of Europe (Atlas des Oiseaux d'Europe), illustrative of Temminck's work. One Number (Livraison) containing ten figures of birds, each the subject of a separate plate, drawn upon stone, and plain, or carefully coloured, should, in accordance with the original plan, have appeared, regularly, at stated intervals. Up to the present time-December, 1834,-thirty only of these numbers have, we believe, reached London. Since the "three glorious days" of July, 1830, the Sciences, in Paris, seem to have been doomed to a somewhat inglorious slumber. Haply, they may have not yet quite recovered from the stunning shock of the thunder-storm of the Barricades; which unluckily scared from their propriety, not only the crawling but the winged animals,-the Reptilia and the Aves, the birds as well as the Bourbons,-of the Gal lic capital. Had the later numbers of Werner's Illustrations of Temminck at all equalled the first three in correctness of outline, and chasteness and fidelity of colouring, his Atlas would have proved an invaluable acquisition to the science of Ornithology. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

We now come to the great, the Herculean work of Prideaux John Selby,-Herculean, not only from its size, but from the time and labour which must have been expended upon its execution. Seven Parts, each consisting, on the average, of about nine plates, in elephant folio, constitute the first Division and Volume of the Illustrations of British Ornithology; and comprize the whole of the LandBirds. The first Part was published in 1825. The Second Division, including the Water-Birds, is still, if we err not, in the course of publication; but must now be rapidly drawing to a close. The first Division of the Plates was accompanied by an octavo volume of descriptive matter, also entitled Illustrations of British Ornithology, Part I.; clearly, concisely, and sensibly written; and containing much information, alike correct and valuable. The arrangement and genera adopted, are, with few and slight deviations, those of Temminck. Some two years ago, Mr. Selby formally announced, through the medium of the press, that a new Edition of the First would be shortly published with the Second Part of his lesser or descriptive work. The fulfilment of this important, but hitherto unredeemed, pledge, we have long been anxiously expecting. To the

Student, it will prove,-if we may venture to predict of the future, from a retrospect of the past,-a work of great practical utility and value. At the same time, it grieves us to state that, in the perhaps exaggerated expectations which we had formed of Mr. Selby's greater work, we have been most woefully disappointed. The figures of some of the birds, therein delineated, are, indeed, executed with admirable fidelity, boldness, and spirit; but, in general, they do not come out well from the ground: they are deficient in prominence and rotundity; and look as if they had been drawn from flattened specimens. This objection, if we recoliect right,-for the cumbrous work is not now before us,-applies, with peculiar force, to the figure of the Great Bustard (vol. i, plate 64). The outline of many of the subjects is, moreover, incorrect; and the character not happily caught, and embodied, by the Artist. Thus, were it not for the fortunate accompaniment of the name, we should not have recognized, in Mr. Selby's sketch, the figure of our old friend, the Rook, -the bare-faced crow, Corvus nudirostris, of the quaint, humourous, and sarcastic Senex.* The smaller birds are, also, without exception, in the rather awkward, though amusing, predicament of the Irishman's Prize-Bull,—" a great deal larger than the life."

Most of our readers are, probably, aware that Professor Rennie, so celebrated for his ambi-dexterity and dispatch in the manufacture of books, has, in addition to his other almost innumerable works, published a new Edition of Col. Montagu's valuable Dictionary, under the somewhat extraordinary title of an Ornithological Dictionary of British Birds. Now what any Ornithological Dictionary could properly have treated of save Birds, we possess not the subtlety of brain, fitting it to comprehend. This strange blunder would have been, however, like a mole on the face of an otherwise beautiful woman, but of little consequence, had the book proved what, in these times, a Dictionary of British Birds, with the materials, the talents, and the industry, possessed by the highly-gifted Editor, ought surely to have been. Still, the numerous sins of omission and commission, displayed in this most faulty compilation, have already been visited so severely by the lash of criticism, that

* See Analyst, vol. i, p. 259.

we will forbear to aggravate the work of torture by renewed flagellation; and sustain our well-known character for mercy to the literary delinquent, by rather pouring oil and wine upon the Professor's wounds; in grateful remembrance of the important services which he has already rendered—and in pleasing anticipation of those which he may yet render-to the cause of natural science in this country.

Mr. Gould, to whose splendid labours we shall anon revert, closes with Mr. Slaney, Mr. Mudie, and the aforesaid Professor Rennie, the enumeration of ornithological writers belonging to the First Division of our retrospect.

The Outline of the Smaller British Birds, a duodecimo volume, by R. A. Slaney, Esq., M. P., is a very pleasing and meritorious production; reflecting honour alike on the character and talents of the British Senator. It abounds with entertaining, although not original, matter. We beg leave to recommend it especially to the notice of "Ladies and young persons," for whose use it is principally intended. Would to Heaven that all our Parliament-men were, in the intervals of relaxation from their senatorial duties, as honourably, usefully, and innocently occupied, as the amiable and intellectual Mr. Slaney!

The little work, entitled Domestic Habits of Birds, by Professor Rennie, and forming one of the volumes of the Library of Entertaining Knowledge, will be read, by the ornithological student, with much interest and advantage. It contains a full and tolerably correct description of the process of incubation, and the development of the chick, in the egg of birds, with illustrative sketches on wood, copied principally from the labours of the celebrated Malpighi.

Of the two duodecimo volumes of Mr. Mudie, The Feathered Tribes of the British Isles, published during the present year, our opinion is not quite so favourable as that which the public has been pleased, in its wisdom, to pronounce upon the work. The title is indeed taking; and the title-page adorned with a shewy vignette; and the plates are prettily coloured; and the volumes, altogether, neatly got up; and will, doubtless, form a very pretty present to those who regard the exterior decorations, and typographical execution, rather than the internal constitution and intrinsic value, of a

book. Trash should, verily, be gilded, or it will not catch the eye, and excite the appetite, of "babes and boobies ;" but the sound and substantial aliment, fitted to satiate the intellectual wants of the public in these intellectual times, requires no such flimsy and meretricious ornament. The adoption of these "tricks of the trade” is the more to be regretted in an author who, like Mr. Mudie, has really no need for such despicable auxiliaries; and who, if he studied the art of literary condensation with half the zeal and diligence displayed by him, in the production of books, would shortly assume that elevated station, in the popular opinion, as an interesting and instructive writer, which his industry and acquirements must ultimately command. He is evidently an accurate and experienced observer of the facts and phenomena of Natural History; in the description of which he occasionally exhibits so much facility, felicity, and talent.

II. We have now reached the termination of the First Stage of our retrospect; and, in entering upon the Second, which comprehends those works wherein Ornithology forms part only of a systematic description of the Animal Kingdom, have, first, to notice the useful Outlines of the Natural History of Great Britain and Ireland, published by Dr. Berkenhout, in three octavo volumes, in the year 1769. A Third and, we believe, last Edition, in two volumes, under the title of Synopsis, bears the date of 1795. It comprehends a good description of two hundred and forty-six species of British birds, arranged according to the Linnæan system. Seven years subsequently to the appearance of Berkenhout's First Edition-1776the zoological labours of Pennant, in a quarto and an octavo edition, of four volumes each, were given to the world. The British Zoology constitutes a shewy and amusing rather than profound work. The last, a posthumous edition, in four octavo volumes, illustrated with many spirited but not very accurate engravings of British animals, appeared in 1812. It exhibits numerous errors and deficiencies in the arrangement and delineation of the various species. Pulteney published, in 1799, his valuable Catalogue of the Birds of Dorsetshire. It originally formed part of Hutchinson's new edition of the History of that county; but is now, we believe, with those of the shells and other natural productions of Dorset, sold separately from

it. This was followed by the appearance, in the next year, of the first volume of Shaw's costly but inaccurate compilation, y'clept General Zoology or Systematic Natural History. Numerous volumes have subsequently appeared. Whether the work have yet attained a sickly maturity, or died of sheer exhaustion in its vaccilating progress, we have never felt sufficient interest in its fate to take the trouble of inquiring. The Ornithological Department, apparently the best of the work, has, we believe, been executed by Mr. Stephens, of entomological celebrity. Mr. Stewart's very useful Elements, consisting of two octavo volumes, came out at Edinburgh about the same period. It has long been out of print: and in 1806, Dr. Turton gave to the literary world, two important publications: the one, a Systematic Description of British Animals, under the objectionable title of The British Fauna; the other, a General System of Nature, in seven octavo volumes, translated principally from Gmelin's edition of Linnæus, with numerous additions and corrections, and a "life of Linné." Both of these works of Dr. Turton may be consulted, by the student, with great advantage. The twelfth and last Edition of the Systema Naturæ of the "immortal Swede” was, we may observe in passing, published, in three octavo volumes, in 1766: the closet-compilation of Gmelin, ten octavo volumes, in 1790. The latter teems with errors.

The year 1816 was distinguished in the annals of Zoology, by the appearance of Cuvier's Animal Kingdom-Règne Animal,-a work, consisting of four octavo volumes; for the value of which the name alone of the illustrious author constitutes a sufficient pledge. A second Edition of it, in five volumes,-the last two comprehending the Crustacea, Arachnides, and Insecta, by the celebrated Latreille, —was published in 1829; and a Series of exquisite engravings, illustrative of it, under the title of Iconographie du Règne Animal, is now in progress of publication by M. Guerin, of Paris. Each number (livraison)-fifty of which will complete the work-contains ten plates, plain or coloured. We greatly prefer the former. Thirty-seven of these numbers have already appeared. Of the English translation of the First Edition of Cuvier's work, by " Edward Griffith and others," or of the choice and execution of the figures accompanying, rather than illustrating, it, we lament our inability