226 OUtuarrj. 



abroad, and was In constant connnunication with all the 

 leading zoologists o£ his day. Nor should we omit to notice 

 the share which he took in the publication of that most useful 

 periodical the ' Zoological Hecord,' acting for several years 

 as the Recorder of " Aves." 



The advantages derived from his foreign travels were 

 subsequently seen in many ways. The visit to Iceland, for 

 example, resulted in the publication of an excellent account 

 of the birds of that country. Very much needed at the time, 

 it was printed as an appendix to Baring Gould's ' Iceland : 

 its Scenes and Sagas,' 1863, and has ever since been regarded 

 as the most authoritative work on the subject, although a 

 more detailed and more accessible manual has been since 

 published by the Rev. H. H. Slater. Another outcome of his 

 visit to Iceland was the impetus given to his life-long inves- 

 tigations on the subject of the Great Auk, or Gare-fowl, as 

 he loved to call it, from its Icelandic name. In these studies 

 and inquiries he was much encouraged by his friend John 

 Wolley, whom he accompanied to Lapland in 1855, and with 

 whom he often discussed the possibility of the continued 

 existence of that remarkable bird. Wolley himself had col- 

 lected much information on the subject of its former distri- 

 bution and last known haunts, and as the result of their joint 

 investigations, though generously giving his friend credit for 

 it. Professor Newton published in the 'Ibis ' for 1861 (pp. 374- 

 399) a remarkably interesting paper entitled " An Abstract 

 of Mr. J. Wolley's Researches in Iceland respecting the 

 Gare-fowl or Great Auk.'' No less im[)ortant was his later 

 contribution, " The Gare-fowl and its Historians,''^ published 

 in 1865 in the ' Natural History Review,' with a shortev 

 paper in the ' Ibis ' for April 1870, on " Existing Remains of 

 the Gare-fowl,''' and another on "The Orcadian Home of the 

 Gare-fowl" (' Ibis,' 1898, p. 587). All these essays fitlj- paved 

 the way for a long-contemplated monograph on the subject, 

 for which he was constantly preparing by an assiduous 

 collection of material from every available source, historical 

 and traditional. This monograph unfortunately was still 

 unfinished at the time of his death. Its com})letion had been 



