HEWITSON'S " BRITISH OOLOGY."

Of the numerous contributions to ornithology with which the press teems, there are few illustrated works of greater interest to the naturalist than the admirable series of representations of British eggs now in progress of publication by Mr. Hewitson. Two volumes have been completed, in which the eggs of one hundred and forty-two species, and in all two hundred and twenty-two specimens, have been figured, for the most part, with the utmost accuracy; so that the possessor of these volumes may be said to enjoy the advantages of a valuable cabinet, such as few could ever hope to obtain, and none without a considerable sacrifice of time and money. There are few naturalists but can well appreciate the usefulness of a work of this description, were it only for the impor tant assistance afforded in grouping birds according to their true affinities, which, in general, are beautifully indicated in their eggs. Mr. Hewitson's work furnishes likewise a fund of curious information relative to the nidification and habits of birds dur ing the breeding season. We only regret that, in so many instances, a whole plate has been devoted to a single egg, while the great variations of appearance incident to those of many species are by no means illustrated to the extent we think desirable. In proceeding to give a critical analysis on the whole series, it is necessary to premise that the work originally appeared in periodic numbers, which are still continued, the only method in which an undertaking of this sort could be successfully prosecuted; but as the volumes before us are bound up according to Selby's arrangementwhich is so far advantageous as it brings the different members of a genus together-it will be more convenient to notice them in this order than in the irregular manner in which they were necessarily published.

Our first volume, then, opens with a beautiful figure of the egg of the Golden Eagle, Aquila chrysea (Falco chrysäetos, of Linneus). This is accompanied with a brief description of its nidification, making the bird out, however, a little too rare, if we may judge from Mr. Selby's account of the birds of Sutherlandshire.* "In the mountainous districts," says Mr. Selby, "this species is still tolerably abundant, although every device is put in practice to capture or destroy them by the appointed fox-hunters and shepherds, the premi

Vide Jameson's Philosophical Journals for January and April last.

ums paid for the adult birds, as well as for the eggs and young, being liberal. They attack and often prove very destructive to the young lambs, particularly when their eyry is not far distant from the lambing district of a farm. They are sometimes taken in traps, but more frequently shot, after patient and sometimes long continued watching. They breed in the highest and most inaccessible precipices, and it is rarely that the young or eggs can be got at, even by the dangerous experiment of suspending a person by a rope from the summit of the cliff in which the eyry is placed. Several hair-breadth escapes, as well as fatal accidents, were narrated to us by individuals who had been engaged in these undertakings." We

To those who have not read Mr. Selby's paper on the mammifers and birds of Sutherlandshire, the following extract will be replete with interest. "The mountainous and rocky character of the greater part of the county, abounding as it does in cliffs of vast perpendicular height, renders it a district peculiarly favourable to the large raptorial birds, such as the Golden and Cinereous Eagles, Peregrine Falcon, &c.; and accordingly we find these powerful species still pretty numerous, though every device is resorted to for their destruction, on account of the havoc they commit upon the flocks. The same may be said of the Fox, the Marten, and the wild Cat, which find protection in the numerous fastnesses of the rocks, and in the caves which abound in the limestone districts. The following list, copied from a document furnished by Mr. Baigrie, of the Foxes, Martens, Cats, Eagles, Ravens, &c., destroyed in the county within the last three years, will afford some idea of their numerous distribution; and the amount of premiums paid, the liberal inducement held out for their destruction.

"List of vermin destroyed, and premiums paid for the same, on the DuchessCountess of Sutherland's estates in the county of Sutherland, from March, 1831, to March, 1834.

71 Old bitch Foxes, @ 42s.

£. s. d.

149 2 0

All of the species Corvus cornix, or Hooded Crow.

+ The Dipper is so called throughouf Sutherland and other parts of the Highlands. The Alcedo ispida is rarely seen.

HEWITSON'S " BRITISH OOLOGY."

Of the numerous contributions to ornithology with which the press teems, there are few illustrated works of greater interest to the naturalist than the admirable series of representations of British eggs now in progress of publication by Mr. Hewitson. Two volumes have been completed, in which the eggs of one hundred and forty-two species, and in all two hundred and twenty-two specimens, have been figured, for the most part, with the utmost accuracy; so that the possessor of these volumes may be said to enjoy the advantages of a valuable cabinet, such as few could ever hope to obtain, and none without a considerable sacrifice of time and money. There are few naturalists but can well appreciate the usefulness of a work of this description, were it only for the impor tant assistance afforded in grouping birds according to their true affinities, which, in general, are beautifully indicated in their eggs. Mr. Hewitson's work furnishes likewise a fund of curious information relative to the nidification and habits of birds during the breeding season. We only regret that, in so many instances, a whole plate has been devoted to a single egg, while the great variations of appearance incident to those of many species are by no means illustrated to the extent we think desirable. In proceeding to give a critical analysis on the whole series, it is necessary to premise that the work originally appeared in periodic numbers, which are still continued, the only method in which an undertaking of this sort could be successfully prosecuted; but as the volumes before us are bound up according to Selby's arrangementwhich is so far advantageous as it brings the different members of a genus together-it will be more convenient to notice them in this order than in the irregular manner in which they were necessarily published.

Our first volume, then, opens with a beautiful figure of the egg of the Golden Eagle, Aquila chrysea (Falco chrysäetos, of Linneus). This is accompanied with a brief description of its nidification, making the bird out, however, a little too rare, if we may judge from Mr. Selby's account of the birds of Sutherlandshire. "In the mountainous districts," says Mr. Selby, "this species is still tolerably abundant, although every device is put

stroy them by the appointed

ums paid for the adult birds, as well as for the eggs and young, being liberal. They attack and often prove very destructive to the young lambs, particularly when their eyry is not far distant from the lambing district of a farm. They are sometimes taken in traps, but more frequently shot, after patient and sometimes long conti nued watching. They breed in the highest and most inaccessible precipices, and it is rarely that the young or eggs can be got at, even by the dangerous experiment of suspending a person by a rope from the summit of the cliff in which the eyry is placed. Several hair-breadth escapes, as well as fatal accidents, were narrated to us by individuals who hau been engaged in these undertakings." We

To those who have not read Mr. Selby's paper on the mammifers and birds of Sutherlandshire, the following extract will be replete with interest. "The mountainous and rocky character of the greater part of the county, abounding as it does in cliff's of vast perpendicular height, renders it a district peculiarly favourable to the large raptorial birds, such as the Golden and Cinereous Eagles, Peregrine Falcon, &c.; and accordingly we find these powerful species still pretty numerous, though every device is resorted to for their destruction, on account of the havoc they commit upon the flocks. The same may be said of the Fox, the Marten, and the wild Cat, which find protection in the numerous fastnesses of the rocks, and in the caves which abound in the limestone districts. The following list, copied from a document furnished by Mr. Baigrie, of the Foxes, Martens, Cats, Eagles, Ravens, &c., destroyed in the county within the last three years, will afford some idea of their numerous distribution; and the amount of premiums paid, the liberal inducement held out for their destruction.

"List of vermin destroyed, and premiums paid for the same, on the Treesss Countess of Sutherland's estates in the county of Sutherland, from Marti 1831, to March, 1834.

have only seen two eggs of this species, than which the specimen represented by Mr. Hewitson is somewhat more decidedly mottled. It is of a dirty white, obscurely clouded, chiefly at the large end, with small blotches of pale rufous brown, of different degrees of intensity. Altogether it is beautifully illustrative of the bird's affinities.

Cinereous Erne, Haliæetus albicilla (Falco albicilla, of Linneus, Whitetailed or Cinereous Sea-eagle, of most of its describers). A large, dull, white egg, faintly marked with a few brownish blotches. "The few specimens," says Mr. Hewitson, "which I have examined are either altogether spotless, or, like the plate, very faintly marked. I think it most probable that some will be found much more boldly spotted."

Plate III. (XXIV. in the series of publication) contains two figures of the egg of the European Hawk, Accipiter Europaus (Falco nisus, Linneus; Sparrowhawk of most naturalists. We prefer the unobjectionable term, nisus, fringillarius, and the like, being necessarily equally applicable to every species of Accipiter, and besides, conveying too low an estimate of the predatory powers of these birds, as does also the vernacular Sparrow-hawk. Europæus can only apply to this species. Few persons are unacquainted with the egg of this bird, which is admirably represented by Mr. Hewitson. Fig. 1. presents its ordinary aspect; fig. 2. a variety. In some eggs, the author states, the markings are very faint.

In the next plate are two excellent representations of the Peregrine Falcon's eggs (Falco peregrinus), much resembling, except in size, those of the Kestrel Falcon, with which most naturalists are familiar. Fig. 2. presents the usual appearance, fig. 1. that of a variety shewing more of the pale colour than is usual, at (what in most eggs would be called) the smaller end. The eggs of all rapacious birds are very elliptical, nearly approximating, in some instances, to round. In the Falcon genus they are mostly of a dark, rufous tint, which is occasionally broken into ill-defined and confluent rufous spots upon a pale ground, accompanied with markings of a still deeper colour. In F. columbarius, of North America, a deviation from the Falcon type is perceptible, in the similitude of the eggs to those of the short-winged Hawks, which have the

"Upon such a system, which is now supported by the lessees of the estate, it is not improbable but that, in a very few years, some of the species of the raptorial birds and carnivorous quadrupeds may become extinct.”— Edinbro' New Philosophical Journal for January, 1836.