128 Alexander Goodman More. [i860 



species ? Are you speaking only of the desiderata of English cabinets 

 or of desiderata to the science ? 



I cannot well appreciate (no doubt from being a botanist) why there 

 should be more interest in finding the nest of Swallow-tailed Kite than 

 of any other American bird ; or does its having once visited Britain 

 make it our duty to take peculiar charge of his oviculum ? I was 

 immensely amused with that article ; you have, my dear Newton, 

 whipped up your eggs in such a pleasant light fashion that I don't 

 think ''Hesperus" himself could have in his heart to attack. 



Talking of breeding-haunts brings me to a scheme I have long 

 entertained of tracing out the breeding-quarters of our British birds 

 according to Watson's Provinces, used by him for the plants. If you 

 are not acquainted with the book, or with my paper on the Butterflies 

 so treated, I will try and explain. What I want you to do is to give 

 me your advice, and say may 1 reckon upon your great experience to 

 help me in the " compilation," it is nothing more and would the other 

 Ibisites lend a hand too ? Had I better write a letter to the " Ibis ' ' about 

 it, explaining and inviting help. 



Yours very sincerely, 



A. G. MORE. 



He received an encouraging answer, and as soon as 

 it was possible to undertake any fresh work returned to 

 the subject : 



June 2ist, 1860. 



MY DEAR NEWTON I hope you will kindly make allowances for a 

 depressed state of health which has for the last three weeks prevented 

 me from attending properly to any kind of work, and owing to which, 

 correspondence has fallen sadly into arrears. I often felt that I owed 

 'you a letter, if it were only to express to you again the very great 

 pleasure it gave me to make your acquaintance with that of the other 

 votaries of " Ibis," and to thank you for the kind manner in which you 

 introduced me to the fraternity. I have not forgotten the promise I 

 made of attempting something in the way of a Paper ; and I think it 

 would not be a bad plan for me to commence collecting the materials 

 for a systematic sketch of the nesting-range of birds in Britain, as a 

 first step towards working out the migration afterwards. I have not 

 yet given much attention to the Russian writer, but I do not think he 

 has brought out any general law of importance, though his plan is very 

 neat and valuable, if the different authorities who supplied the original 

 data were sufficiently trustworthy. It seems to me a great deal of care 

 is necessary, in this kind of observation, to distinguish between the 

 arrival of the first few stragglers and that of the main body. How, for 

 instance, can there be any guarantee that there were not, at some 

 points, the forerunners only noted, in another the main body only? 



