236 



Recent Liteyaiure. \ X%l 



Among various merits which a literary performance may possess that 

 of sheer utility is surely not to be despised. The present reviewer, for 

 example, is far enough along in the business of writing about birds to 

 liave entertained grave doubts concerning his own omniscence or infalli- 

 bility, and to be very much obliged indeed for information that he lacks. 

 During the past few years he has made much ornithological manuscript, 

 the outcome of which at present concerns nobody but himself. During a 

 like period, one or more Parts of this ' Dictionai-y ' has lain or have lain 

 upon his desk, instead of standing upon his shelves; and he has acquired 

 the habit of saying to himself, upon taking up the pen of a morning, 

 before shedding ink upon any topic of the day, "I wonder what Prof. 

 Newton has to say about that.'"' Ten to one, he has found something he 

 wanted, if it were only a reliable date, or a right spelling, or a name he 

 never knew before, or an exact definition, or a sound etymology, or bit of 

 early history — or whatnot in the way of positive, reliable information. 

 Ten to one, again, in looking for something he wanted, he found some- 

 thing else he should have wanted had he fully realized his own obtuse- 

 ness ; and one thing led to another, till he had been reading the ' Diction- 

 ary ' all the morning instead of minding his own business. He therefore 

 warns all users of the 'Dictionary' that his case is not likely to be 

 singular ! But he feels also quite certain that some considerable time of 

 every intending writer upon birds can in nowise be more pleasantly or 

 more profitably spent than in informing himself of what Professor Newton 

 has already set down concerning them; and if it be happily true that " the 

 written word remaineth " in the mind of the would-be writer, there can be 

 no reasonable doubt that his own performance will be improved accord- 

 ingly. This is a test of usefulness to which only a thoroughly good book 

 can be put without detriment to its reputation ; yet this ' Dictionary's ' 

 credit will increase with every such trial to which it may be subjected. 



The ' shortcomings ' of the ' Dictionary ' are innumerable, being no fewer 

 than the number of all the names which exist in ornithology, but which 

 are not entered alphabetically in this work. They are the lengths to 

 vvhich the author did not see fit to go, and as such are best dismissed in 

 his own words (Preface, pp. vii., viii) : 



" It has been my object throughout to compress into the smallest 

 compass the information intended to be conveyed. It would have been 

 easier to double the bulk of the work, but the limits of a single volume 

 are already strained, and to extend it to a second would in several ways 

 destroy such usefulness as it may possess. ... It will be obvious to nearly 

 every one that the number of names of Birds included in a work of this 

 kind might be increased almost indefinitely. Whether it will ever be 

 possible for me to supply these additions, and others, must depend on 

 many things, and not least on the reception accorded by the public to the 

 present volume." 



As touching this contingency, with its implicit promise, we may 

 express our gratification at seeing the ' Dictionary ' advertised for sale in 



