insects that flutter in its breeze, the fish that tenant its seas,
rivers, and lakes, and the plants that wave in wild luxuriance on its
hills and dales; and by comparing all these varieties with the natural
characteristics of our own country, and contrasting their differences
with others, we are enabled, in some degree, to appreciate, by the
linked gradations, the order and harmony that reign throughout
nature--the minute beauty of parts which are so essential to the
perfection of the grand whole.

The last overland expedition to the Polar sea, under the command of
Captain Sir John Franklin, was peculiarly fortunate in the collection of
objects of natural history, which indeed were too numerous for the
limits of an appendix, such as had appeared with the narratives of
previous expeditions. Hence the number of the specimens warranted their
publication in a separate form, under the able superintendance of Dr.
Richardson, surgeon and naturalist to the expedition, aided by Mr.
Swainson. The great expense of the requisite embellishment of the
ornithological portion, however, threatened a formidable obstacle to its
completeness; but this was met by a liberal grant of one thousand pounds
by the British Government, to be applied solely towards the expense of
the engravings--the present being the first zoological work ever
published with the sterling assistance of His Majesty's Treasury. The
first part of this truly great national work appeared some time since,
with 28 spirited figures of Mammalia, from drawings by Landseer; the
entomological and botanical parts are preparing for publication; and
that of _The Birds_, (to which we are indebted for the annexed Cuts,)
has very recently appeared.[1]

[1] _Fauna Boreali-Americana, or the Zoology of the Northern
Parts of British America_. Part II., containing the Birds. By W.