Rennie's Moiitagu^s Ornithological Dictionary, 423 



power and goodness of the Creator. Of this part of his assertions I shall 

 say nothing at present. Mr. Rennie considered a sketch of the various 

 systems necessary in the introductory chapter of his Architecture of JSirds, 

 where it certainly was not wanted ; but in the case of Montagu, I consider 

 a systematic appendage absolutely necessary ; or you must possess some 

 other work : a circumstance, to say nothing else about it, which may not 

 suit every one who studies ornithology. 



Mr. Rennie ought to have stated explicitly whether he made use of wo 

 si/stem in acquiring his own knowledge of natural history. He appears to 

 be a very good naturalist ; and if he is not indebted to any system for such 

 knowledge, then the public have still a claim upon him for his " plan of 

 study: " for the one published supposes the student to know the subject 

 he is looking at (as in the case of the grebe's nest), which is not likely to 

 be the case without previous study, and that study systematical. 



I shall beg to ask one question : — Can any person having a British bird, 

 of which he knows nothing, make it out by the new edition of Montagu ? 

 If he cannot, its boasted superiority over the first shrinks into insignifi- 

 cance : and that he can do so, no one will, I think, have the hardihood to 

 advance. 



The book, viewed in this light, appears to be a complete failure. Had 

 the original edition of Montagu contained a systematic arrangement with 

 short specific characters, it would have been reprinted before now. I am 

 sorry, for myself and others, that Mr. Rennie has so uselessly devoted his 

 time : half the space in his book which is occupied in abusing systems, 

 would have held the necessary compendium, and then the work would have 

 been what it ought to be. 



If Professor Henslow, Hooker, or Lindley, were to publish alphabetical 

 lists of British plants ; or if you had made your own EncyclopcBdia of 

 Plants alphabetical, of what use would such books be ? Mr. Rennie, how- 

 ever, seems to have great faith in such arrangements, for to his alphabetical 

 book he has added an alphabetical index. 



I shall conclude by giving you a specimen of Mr. Rennie's criticism. It 

 is on our poet Southey, and is contained in the article on the bittern : and 

 while it shows very clearly that Mr. Rennie is no poet, it certainly does not 

 prove that Mr. Southey is no ornithologist. After mentioning the booming 

 of the bittern, he says — " Its lofty spiral flight, indeed, is a matter of 

 common remark — 



* Swift as the bittern soars on spiral wings.' 



Southet/. 

 A line which, I may remark, is not very ornithological, inasmuch as nei- 

 ther the bittern nor any other bird has spiral wings." * 



No one would for a moment imagine that Mr. Southey thought the 

 wings of the bittern spiral ; but, knowing that it raised itself into the air in 

 this peculiar manner, he, by a figure, conveyed the idea to his reader in the 

 shortest and best manner he could : and Mr. Rennie ought to have known 

 that such figures are by no means uncommon in all our best poets. I am, 

 Sir, yours, &c. — D. S. Bungaz/, July 12. 1831. 



However defective the omission of all means of determining the name 

 of an unknown British bird (at least, without a great sacrifice of time and 

 labour) from this " alphabetical book " may be, the " alphabetical index " 

 added to it should not be censured. The arrangement of the body of the 

 book is alphabetic according to the English names of the birds; the alpha- 

 betic index is one of their systematic names : both, therefore, are intended 

 to facilitate the researcher's attainment of the information the book may 



* This remark, and others on the habits of the bittern, occur in our 

 Vol. I. p. 495. : supplementary ones on p. 464, of the present volume. — 

 J.D.forCond. 



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