Page:The Zoologist, 1st series, vol 1 (1843).djvu/252

224 ment and cessation of their song, the site, form and materials of their nests, and a thousand other facts, previously disregarded, were to him matters of the deepest interest, and were recorded with a care and precision which even now are rarely equalled. The 'Natural History of Selborne' is an accumulation of such records, a vocabulary of facts; and might we be allowed its utterance, we should express a wish, almost a trust, that 'The Zoologist,' now in the dawn of its existence, and comparatively unknown, may eventually become such a vocabulary; not confined to a parish, or to a county;—not limited to the writings of an individual, whose sphere of observation must of necessity be restricted; but embracing the entire kingdom, whether for observations or observers. Such a work would become essential alike to the grave historian of nature, who would enrich his pages with its treasures, and to the youthful student, who thirsts for a sufficient knowledge of Natural History to give a zest to his rambles in the forests and the fields.

Truly it does not fall to the lot of all men to attain such a proficiency as the historian of Selborne, nor is it desirable that it should; few indeed possess the opportunity, the patience, the leisure, the zeal, to achieve it. But then, White was but one—we are many; and surely the wider field of observation, surely the increased number of observers, will compensate for the inferiority to our great model and master, which each individually will be ready to admit. There is, moreover, something exactly to our taste in the pleasing way in which the historian of Selborne bespeaks the favorable consideration of the scientific Barrington:—" You are a gentleman of great candour, and one that will make allowances, especially when the writer professes to be an out-door naturalist, one that takes his observations from the subject itself, and not from the writings of others." It is our own case exactly; we feel that we have to plead for the allowances of the men of books; we are out-door naturalists; we take our observations from the subject itself; taking for granted the view of the scientific, that this is the lowest branch of the tree of knowledge, we content ourselves with gathering the fruit placed so abundantly within our reach.

We cannot afford space to review at length works that have reached so many editions; the fact itself is a criterion of excellence. But we may say that the present edition is nicely got up, has few editorial notes, and is peculiarly free from the technicalities of science: it is, moreover, beautifully illustrated, and is one of the prettiest presents that a juvenile naturalist could receive.