Mr. Gosse is favourably known for a book on the
Birds of Jamaica, which combined a naturalist's scientific knowledge with vivid powers of delineating the habits and characters of the creatures themselves, as well as of the landscapes they animated. Popular British Ornithology is a work of an humbler kind, intended to furnish youthful students with a handbook that shall yield them specific information as to the external characteristics of form, plumage, &c., with some account of the haunts and habits of the birds described. The author has infused into his pages some of the qualities that distinguished the Birds of Jamaica. Dividing his book into months, he gives a general description of the natural fea- tures of each, animated by little pictures fresh from nature, and well calculated to draw young students into the fields, lanes, or plantations, even in the present season. The birds described are grouped under each month with some reference to system; the earliest songsters and breeders heralding the spring; and though the descriptions are of necessity brief, they abound with that decision and nicety of remark which show that the observation is drawn from nature. The book is profusely illustrated by coloured plates, which assist the description by bringing the leading bird or birds of a species well before the eye.
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