354 Alexander Goodman More. 



CHAPTER XL VIII. 



MISCELLANEOUS LETTERS. 



[1889.] 



A REVISION of his List of Irish Birds was called for in 

 consequence of the first edition having been sold off; but 

 he was glad of the opportunity to retouch it largely, as 

 many of his letters show. 



January i8th, 1889. 



MY DEAR NEWTON, I am preparing a new edition of the " List of 

 Irish Birds," and I hope you will not think me too troublesome if I ask 

 you what shall I do about the Sooty Shearwater. Am I to call it 

 Puffinus stricklandi Ridgw., or adhere to the old griseus? Again, 

 would it be heresy to suggest that it is a melanic form of P. major, as 

 the black state of the Skuas ? Or should I be put down at once for 

 such an idea ? 



I am glad to say that I am much better in bodily health than I was 

 a year ago, and am doing a little work regularly, chiefly at botany. 

 The leg, however, refuses to do any work, as the pain in and about the 

 hip-joint and along the thigh-bone is still severe, and the limb very 

 touchy and tender. Still I am glad to limp about on crutches, and 

 travel the longer distances in a bath-chair. I trust that you and your 

 brother are both quite well. Will not Sir Edward write some account 

 of West Indian Birds ? Please kindly tell me which you would recom- 

 mend as the best edition ofHewitson's "Oology" for a man who is 

 rather a connoisseur of books, but also fond of ornithology. I promised 

 to ask you. And with all the best wishes for the year 1889, 1 remain, 

 yours very sincerely, 



A. G. MORE. 



February ijth, 1889. 



DEAR NEWTON, Many thanks for your last letter. As you advise, 

 I must leave the Shearwater as griseus ; but I could find no differential 

 character, in size, shape, bill, or wing, to separate it from major, killed 

 also in Kerry. Are there no cases in the Shearwater similar to those of 



the parallel melanic forms of Skua ? I don't like relying on colour 



I am much exercised about whether to include the Nightingale and 

 Reed Warbler, both only once captured in Ireland (if Montgomery was 



