Abstract
THE twenty-second part of this magnificent work has just been issued to the subscribers. It contains fifteen plates coloured by hand, including the great alced, four owls, two pheasants, three buntings, three piculets, Franklin's barbet, and the long-billed wren, accompanied by letterpress descriptions. Among so much that is beautiful and interesting, it is very difficult to particularise; but we cannot help referring to the charming little owlet dedicated to the late Sir Benjamin Brodie, the eminent surgeon, and named Athene Brodiei. Among the peculiarities of the bay owl found in Nepaul and the northern confines of India, Mr. Gould notices its friendship for wild animals, living on good terms with the tiger, and sometimes alighting on its back. We learn that one of the pheasants, the Chinese Crossoptilon, or Dallas's eared pheasant, is now domesticated in our Zoological Gardens; also that some eggs have been hatched there, and that female birds may be purchased for 15l. The long-billed wren (Rimator malacoptilus, Blyth), a small reddish-brown bird, with a droll apology for a tail, is said to be excessively rare, and one of the most curious and highly-interesting species in the Indian avi-fauna.
The Birds of Asia.
By John Gould.
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The Birds of Asia. Nature 2, 23 (1870). https://doi.org/10.1038/002023b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/002023b0