150 Alexander Goodman More. [i860 



Scops Eared Owl. Surely Mr. must have made a mistake. 



Woodchat. What ? rob me of my Woodchat ! When the young 

 bird was shot, and bears a white patch on the middle of the wing. 



Firecrest. Does this depend upon Jenyn's cat-captured specimen ? 

 I have always felt great doubt as to that species. Was it a shadow of 

 things to come ? No Firecrest has since been got at that season. 



Am I not improving ? 



Grey-headed Wagtail. I find no locality mentioned in my books. 



White Wagtail. Reported as remaining all summer. Egg not 

 taken. 



Shore Lark. Where ? 



Alas ! what a list have I not inflicted upon you ! At least do not 

 trouble to answer this except quite at your leisure. 



Mr. Newton's idea of taking an " Ornithological Cen- 

 sus " first unfolded in the article from which a paragraph 

 has already been quoted is referred to in several letters : 



(April qth, 1861.} I read your Census Paper with great interest. 

 I admire the philosophic spirit in which you doubt even your former 

 self. But I admire still more the courage with which you propose a 

 general inquisition into game-books. Don't you think too many of 

 the witnesses would cheat their own brothers on this point ? 



But the labour ! If it is hard enough to fill in the Chart of Distri- 

 bution, what will it be to estimate the proportion per acre or per 

 square mile ? Truly the results would be extremely valuable, and I 

 believe really useful. Nor is there any bird so likely to afford data as 

 the Partridge. And the difficulties, the uncertainties ! before you can 

 draw up your map of density. (It should be after the fashion of a 

 rainfall map in a physical atlas, should it not ?) Your courage, my 

 dear Newton, is far greater than mine if you ever undertake to carry 

 out the plan. 



What seems to me the really serious defect is that you propose to 

 take as an example of the " struggle for life " the one bird which, of 

 all others, lives in an artificial and favoured condition. Favoured 

 alike by cultivation and by man himself, how can such an instance be 

 compared with other really ferae naturae ? Does not the alliance and 

 protection of man far outbalance all other influences ? And how will 

 this tell when you come to compare a well-preserved corn country 

 with a district still remaining in pretty much its original condition ? 

 Again, are not manors, in many counties, confined to small patches 

 known to be most productive of birds ? and then a return from them 

 will not represent the county fairly. My mind recoils before these 

 many sources of uncertainty. 



As a means of collecting information, do you not think that it would 

 be well to enrol first a club or association of such as are willing to give 



