1855] Correspondence with Mr. E. Newton. 67 



35, UNION -STREET, RYDE, 



Afiril \Qth, 1855. 



MY DEAR NEWTON, The receipt of your letter the other day gave 

 me a great deal of pleasure, and I hope you will allow me to look for- 

 ward to many more consultations with you when an ornithological 

 difficulty presents itself. So you were right after all about the Diver ! 

 And indeed I felt so very uncertain about its unusual state of feathers 

 that I was quite prepared for either solution, whenever books and foot- 

 rule were brought to bear upon the bird. I was very glad also to find 

 that the sternum was an acquisition to your osteological cabinet, and I 

 suppose all the more valuable from belonging to an adult bird. 



To distinguish between two such very similar species as Podiceps 

 arcticus and cornutus would, I fear, require more acuteness than I pos- 

 sess, albeit that I have as yet rather followed in botany the Splitters 

 than the Lumpers. In winter plumage especially, which is the only 

 state in which I have shot the " dusky Grebe," there must be almost 

 insuperable difficulty ; and when I tell you that I never could determine 

 that Red-legged Gull,* of which you saw the skin, I don't think you 

 would give much for any notions of mine as to the two Grebes. Such 

 knotty poipts must be left to men like you who believe in three Jer- 

 Falcons, and who have not the second hobby of botany to employ half 

 of the natural history hours. I suppose it would be too wild a heresy to 

 hint that perhaps the younger birds of first or second breeding season 

 have smaller crests ? You will remember how much the Great Grebe 

 varies in size of its ruff. I confess that I should prefer having some 

 character founded on careful anatomical comparison. This would be 

 more satisfactory than a shade of colour on one quill. 



I will not forget, however, to look out for the second] species, and 

 I am much obliged to you for pointing out some of the critical points. 

 As you say, the fig. in Naumann bears considerable resemblance to the 

 Eared Grebe. 



How glad you must be at returning home with all your time free 

 to mark the arrival and passage of each returning migrant. The 

 spring here is so very backward that but for the appearance of our 

 little friends, Wheatear and Chiffchaff, one might fancy oneself scarce 

 out of February. Now the wind has at last got round to the south-west 

 and I suppose we may look for a wonderful advance. It is astonishing 

 in how short a time the vegetation regains its lost ground, and I rather 

 rejoice at the present state, from the advantages we shall have of seeing 

 the summer visitors all the more plainly among the bare branches. 



I was equally amused with yourself at . Surely our friend 



must be inspired by the spirit of the Long-legged Plover, who can filch 



* A Gull shot at Bembridge in January, 1850, and mentioned in his notes 

 (1851) as " confidently referred by my friend R. A. Julian to capistratus (Masked 

 Gull) ... At the same time there is too great resemblance to the Black-headed 

 to allow any great amount of confidence as to its specific value." The "specific 

 value " is now universally discarded. 



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