240 Recent Li/rrafurc. [ A "ril 



of our science lately opened an address he delivered to the Congress at 

 Riidapest in the following words, in part : 



" I'^rom (lie lime of our great master, Linna'iis, and even from that of 

 the patriarchs of Science, Professor Newton traces the gradual develop- 

 ment of Ornithology; and not only do I find little to add to this masterly 

 treatise, but my very criticisms are there forestalled, and I ofi'er this tribute 

 to the genius of my talented countryman, not without a slight feeling 

 of Qnvy at the vigorous English in which the memoir is composed, and 

 the truly wonderful way in which his facts are marshalled and arranged. 

 With some regret, therefore, I have laid aside my exposition of the 

 various schemes of Classification which I had intended to place before 

 you, because I feel that I could not say anything which Professor Newton 

 has not said ten times better; and although his article may not be 'milk 

 for babes,' by the earnest devotee of Ornithology it will be read with 

 intense interest." 



To whatever school, 'old' or 'new,' Dr. Sharpe may be iield to belong, 

 this shows that our eminent colleague also knows the good wine which 

 needs no bush; and we should not protract the present review were all as 

 well qualified to pass judgment as he is, or were Professor Newton's 

 ' Dictionary ' as well known to the rank and file of American ornithologists 

 as we trust it may speedily become — albeit the luxury of praising that 

 which may be justly praised without stint is ours in the present instance, 

 and one which we propose to enjoy yet further, before we put a period to 

 its expression. We wish to show, if possible, how Professor Newton has 

 accomplished the apparently impossible feat of profitably reviewing orni- 

 thology as a whole in 120 octavo pages. He first notices pretty thoroughly 

 the chief ornithological works begun if not completed before the begin- 

 ning of the present century — not an extremely diliicult task, though it 

 consumes one-sixth of his allowable space (pp. 1-21). With the present 

 century began — or began to multiply — three different classes of works, 

 namely: Fauna;, Monographs, and publications of scientific societies. 

 With the last of these he cannot undertake to deal, " except thev be of 

 prime importance." The monographs come next for treatment, including 

 great works on special groups of birds, generally illustrated with plates 

 to which the text is more or less a secondary consideration. These are 

 disposed of on pp. 21-jS. Attention is then turned to general and partic- 

 ularly to systematic works in which plates, if they exist at all, form but 

 an accessory to the text — works such as those of Illiger, Vieillot, Tem- 

 minck, and so on to Gray and Giebel. In this connection Professor 

 Newton does not hesitate to kill the circle-squarers — Macleav, Vigors, 

 and Swainson — over again; he handles them as one might unruly 

 children caught making mischief, and we cannot refrain from giving 

 a (juolation (l^P- .?•/, ,?5) : 



•' True it is that there were not wanting . . . men in these [British] 

 islands whose common sense refused to accept the metaphorical doctrine 

 and mystical jargon of the Q^iinarians, but so strenuously and persist- 



