10 



ORNITHOLOGY 



editions than any other work in Natural History in the 

 whole world, and has become emphatically an English 

 classic — the graceful simplicity of its style, the elevating 

 tone of its spirit, and the sympathetic chords it strikes 

 recommending it to every lover of Nature, while the 

 severely scientific reader can scarcely find an error in any 

 statement it contains, whether of matter of fact or opinion. 

 It is almost certaiu that more than half the zoologists of the 

 British Islands for the past seventy years or more have been 

 infected with their love of the study by Gilbert White ; 

 and it can hardly be supposed that his influence will cease. 1 



The other work to the importance of which on Ornith- 

 Bewick. ology in this country allusion has been made is Bewick's 

 History of British Birds. The first volume of this, contain- 

 ing the Land-Birds, appeared in 17'J7' 2 — the text being, it 

 is understood, by Beilby — the second, containing the 

 Water-Birds, in 1804. The woodcuts illustrating this 

 work are generally of surpassing excellence, and it takes 

 rank in the category of artistic publications. Fully ad- 

 mitting the extraordinary execution of the engravings, 

 every ornithologist may perceive that as portraits of the 

 Birds they are of very unequal merit. Some of the figures 

 were drawn from stuffed specimens, and accordingly perpetu- 

 ate all the imperfections of the original; others represent 

 species with the appearance of which the artist was not 

 familiar, and these are either wanting in expression or are 

 caricatures ; 3 but those that were drawn from live Birds, 

 or represent species which he knew in life, are worthy of 

 all praise. It is well known that the earlier editions of this 

 work, especially if they be upon large paper, command 

 extravagant prices ; but in reality the copies on smaller 

 paper 'are now the rarer, for the stock of them has been 

 consumed in nurseries and schoolrooms, where they have 

 been torn up or worn out with incessant use. Moreover, 

 whatever the lovers of the fine arts may say, it is nearly 

 certain that the " Bewick Collector " is mistaken in attach- 

 ing so high a value to these old editions, for owing to the 

 ■want of skill in printing — indifferent ink being especially 

 assigned as one cause — many of the earlier issues fail to 

 shew the most delicate touches of the engraver, which the 

 increased care bestowed upon the edition of 1847 (published 

 under the supervision of Mr John Hancock) has revealed, — 

 though it must be admitted that certain blocks have 

 suffered from wear of the press so as to be incapable of any 

 more producing the effect intended. Of the text it may 

 be said that it is respectable, but no more. It has given 

 satisfaction to thousands of readers in time past, and will, 

 it may be hoped, give satisfaction to thousands in time to 

 come. 



The existence of these two works explains the widely- 

 spread taste for Ornithology in this country, which is to 

 foreigners so puzzling, and the zeal — not always according 

 to knowledge, but occasionally reaching to serious study — 

 with which that taste is pursued. 



Having thus noticed, and it is to be hoped pretty 

 thoroughly, the chief ornithological works begun if not 

 completed prior to the commencement of the present cen- 



1 Next to the original edition, that known as Bennett's, published 

 in 1837, which was reissued in 1S75 by Mr Halting, was long 

 deemed the best ; but it must give place to that of Bell, which appeared 

 in 1S77, and contains much additional information of great interest. 

 But the editions of Markwick, Herbert, Blyth, and Jardine all possess 

 features of merit. An elaborately prepared edition, issued of late years 

 under the managementof one whogained great reputation as a naturalist, 

 only shews his ignorance and his vulgarity. 



2 There were two issues — virtually two editions — of this with the 

 same date on the title-page, though one of them is said not to have 

 been published till the following year. Among several other indicia 

 this may be recognized by the woodcut of the " Sea Eagle " ai page 11 

 bearing at its base the inscription " WycliDV, 1701," and by the addi- 

 tional misprint on page 145 of Salueniclus for Schsemidus. 



3 This is especially observable in the figures of the Birds-of-Prey. 



tury, together with their immediate sequels, those which 

 follow will require a very different mode of treatment, for 

 their number is so great that it would be impossible for 

 want of space to deal with them in the same extended 

 fashion, though the attempt will finally be made to enter 

 into details in the case of works constituting the founda- 

 tion upon which apparently the superstructure of the 

 future science has to be built. It ought not to need stat- 

 ing that much of what was, comparatively speaking, only 

 a few years ago regarded as scientific labour is now no 

 longer to be so considered. The mere fact that the prin- 

 ciple of Evolution, and all its admission carries with it, 

 has been accepted in some form or other by almost all 

 naturalists, has rendered obsolete nearly every theory 

 that had hitherto been broached, and in scarcely any 

 branch of zoological research was theory more rife than in 

 Ornithology. One of these theories must presently be 

 noticed at some length on account of the historical import- 

 ance which attaches to its malefic effects in impeding the 

 progress of true Ornithology in Britain ; but charity 

 enjoins us to consign all the rest as much as possible to 

 oblivion. 



On reviewing the progress of Ornithology since the end 

 of the last century, the first thing that will strike us is the 

 fact that general works, though still undertaken, have 

 become proportionally fewer, and such as exist are apt to 

 consist of mere explanations of systematic methods that 

 had already been more or less fully propounded, while 

 special works, whether relating to the ornithic portion of 

 the Fauna of any particular country, or limited to certain 

 groups of Birds — works to which of late years the name 

 of "Monograph" has become wholly restricted — have 

 become far more numerous. Btit this seems to be the 

 natural law in all sciences, and its cause is not far to 

 seek. As the knowledge of any branch of study extends, 

 it outgrows the opportunities and capabilities of most men 

 to follow it as a whole ; and, since the true naturalist, by 

 reason of the irresistible impulse which drives him to 

 work, cannot be idle, he is compelled to confine his 

 energies to narrower fields of investigation. That in a 

 general way this is for some reason to be regretted is true ; 

 but, like all natural operations, it carries with it some 

 recompense, and the excellent work done by so-called 

 "specialists" has over and over again proved of the 

 greatest use to advancement in different departments of 

 science, and in none more than in Ornithology. 4 



Another change has come over the condition of Ornith- 

 ology, as of kindred sciences, induced by the multiplica- 

 tion of learned societies which issue publications as 

 well as of periodicals of greater or less scientific pretension 

 — the latter often enjoying a circulation far wider than 

 the former. Both kinds increase yearly, and the despond- 

 ing mind may fear the possibility of its favourite study 

 expiring through being smothered by its own literature. 

 Without anticipating such a future disaster, and looking 

 merely to what has gone before, it is necessary here to 

 premise that, in the observations which immediately 

 follow, treatises which have appeared in the publications 

 of learned bodies or in other scientific periodicals must, 

 except they be of prime importance, be hereinafter passed 

 unnoticed ; but their omission will be the less felt because 

 the more recent of those of a " faunal " character have 

 generally been mentioned in a former dissertation (Birds, 

 vol. iii. pp. 737-764) under the different Regions or 



* The truth of the preceding remarks may be so obvious to most 

 men who have acquaintance with the subject that their introduction 

 here may seem unnecessary ; but it is certain that the facts they state 

 have been very little appreciated by many writers who profess to give 

 an account of the progress of Natural History during the present 

 century. 



