56 



rather do this ten years hence^ did I live so loug. Although claiming 

 to have some knowledge of Accipitres and Passeres, and certain 

 groups of PicaricE, my acquaintance with the other orders is but that 

 of every Museum Curator^ and I should have preferred to keep silence 

 on the great subject of Classification until^ by the close study o£ the 

 Game-birds and Water-foAvl in the ' Catalogue of Birds/ I had gained 

 a more intimate acquaintance with these members of the Class '' Aves.^^ 

 At the same time it is in the hope that I may add a " brick '' or two to 

 the structure of the Classification of Birds that I am emboldened to 

 carry the subject of my Address a little further. 



The building-up of the Natural Classification of Birds resembles 

 the construction of a buildings to which each earnest labourer in the 

 field of Ornithology contributes his quota. Sometimes the structure 

 has to be altered and amended, but it is seldom that a labourer^ whose 

 soul is in his work^ retires without having added something in the shape 

 of useful materials. It takes a long time — it may be years of study — 

 before a sound brick is baked; and there is evidently some temptation 

 now-a-days to take other people's bricks without acknowledgment^ and 

 with them to construct a temjjle of one's own. 



It is certain, however, that by this " brick '""-making materials for the 

 structure of the Classification of Birds will be slowly gathered ; and 

 our difficulty at the present day lies in the fact that so many of our 

 foundations are insecure, irretrievably buried in the sands of the past. 

 At the same time, it is impossible to look back upon the history 

 of Ornithology during the past twenty years without recognizing 

 that an immense amount of good work has been done, that a number 

 of sound " bricks " have been made ; and the materials seem to be 

 gradually accumulating from which a solid structure may be built. It 

 is not for me to say more on this subject, regarding as I do at this 

 moment the faces of so many Ornithologists who have helped to build 

 up our science. Rather let me add some words of advice which concern 

 every one of us, in the words of our great Enghsh poet, Sir Edwin 

 Arnold : — 



" Live day by day 

 By little and by little swelling 

 Thy tale of duty done — tbe way 



The wise ant-people build their dwelling." 



And, further, I would remark that no critic should interfere with the 

 building of our structure who does not give reasons for his spoliation of 

 the work. In later years we have had too much criticism, but few 

 attempts at reconstruction. This may be due, no doubt, to the wise 

 caution of the writers who never commit themselves, who pull down, or 

 at least try to do so, but who never reconstruct — who damage a 

 "brick" in the building, but never replace it by a new one. To 

 criticize is the easiest thing in the world ; to damage the " bricks " of 



