64 Wonders of the Bird World 



This has been an experience vouchsafed to no other ornith- 

 ologist, and I have consequently had many opportunities of 

 observing the wonderful complications and developments 

 of plumage in the species I have had to describe. I have 

 often regretted that I never followed the advice of my old 

 friend and Mentor, Darwin, in making a series of notes, as 

 I went along, on the laws which seem to prevail with regard 

 to the style of colour in various groups of birds. Of late 

 years, however, ornithologists have generally recognized 

 that the question of colouration must be equally considered 

 with that of structure in birds, and its importance has been 

 universally admitted. Nor can the relations of the Orders 

 and Families of Birds one to another ever be properly 

 appreciated until every point of their economy has been 

 considered, and certainly types of colouration form an 

 important feature in classification. 



The mention of the name of Charles Darwin recalls to 

 me the time when first I knew him. I was then the 

 Librarian of the Zoological Society in Hanover Square, 

 and, though little more than a boy at the time, I was hard 

 at work on my Monograph of the Kingfishers. Nothing 

 could exceed the kindness of the great naturalist towards 

 young beginners, and I never felt afraid of appealing 

 to him for his opinion on any matter which puzzled 

 me. When I was appointed to the British Museum 

 he was still the same kind friend to me, listening to my 

 propositions with the utmost patience and courtesy, and 

 always giving me encouragement, which was very welcome 

 at the time, and is now one of my most cherished memories. 

 In those days I was young and full of enthusiasm, and I 

 always told him of the work which I proposed to do in 

 different branches of ornithology, whereupon he gave me 

 this sound advice as to the method I should pursue, and 

 I now pass it on to the younger school of ornithologists, 

 as coming from the lips of the great master himself. He 



