Letters, Announcements, ^c. 243 



(Ibis, 1868, pp. 347, 348). Our good friend says :— " That I 

 did not mention the volume and page of ' The Ibis ' was for the 

 simple reason that I wrote from memory, and was unable to 

 refer to the data you think I should have given. I am free to 

 say, however, that even if I had had the volume at hand, I do 

 not think it would have occurred to me as important to mention 

 the reference or the name of the ' impertinent ' writer. As it 

 was, this was simply impossible .... Had I recalled his 

 name or had ready access to it, I would have mentioned it ; and 

 it certainly did not occur to me that I should be suspected of 

 intending any disrespect towards a journal I so highly esteem as 

 'Thelbis.^ 



" In now looking back upon our decision — for it was Prof. 

 Baird's as well as my own, — when we accepted the apparently 

 perfect chain of evidence which seemed to demonstrate the egg to 

 be that of the Pigeon-Hawk, I am unable to see wherein we were 

 hasty, or wherein we acted otherwise than any one should have 

 done in our place. A perfectly trustworthy man, a sportsman, 

 Mr. Cheney, of Grand Menan, who had been employed by me to 

 collect eggs, produced not only the nest and eggs, but the 

 parent-bird, which he had shot flying, as he supposed, from the 

 nest. It was not such an egg as I expected to find it, though 

 it did agree with some accounts of it. We must now suppose 

 the bird thus shot to have been an unfortunate interloper, and 

 not one of the parents ; but why should we then suppose any- 

 thing of the kind ? Yet the possibility of this did occur to us, 

 and we gave the world all the benefit of our doubts. After 

 having thus gone further in this direction than there seemed to 

 be any occasion, it certainly was provoking to have one who so 

 plainly showed his imperfect knowledge thus claim to know 

 so much and presume to lecture me for not deciding as he now 

 assumes that I ought." 



We think it due to Dr. Brewer to print the foregoing extracts 

 from his letter ; and we cordially accept his disclaimer of any 

 intention to " cast a slur " on this Journal ; while we have also 

 to thank him for the kind expressions he is good enough to use 

 (in a part of his letter, which we do not print) towards * The Ibis^ 

 and its Editor. 



