FOUNDATION OF B.O.U. 63 



and Joseph Wolf,* a friend of Newton, was commissioned 

 to draw the figure of the Sacred Bird, which has always 

 adorned the cover of the journal. 



I owe you many apologies for not having written to 

 you before, but I have been so very, very busy. 



I hope things are promising for the Ibis ; we nearly 

 lost Wolley f through the change of name, but I trust 

 he is appeased. His name is such a tower of strength 

 that we could not set up to be Ornithologists of the first 

 water without his co-operation. As for the name itself, I 

 don't think it signifies 0-0-2, and " Ibis " is as good as 

 any other ; does it not signify " You will go," i.e. to the 

 ends of the world, and in fact the Ibis is one of the most 

 cosmopolitan of genera. I regard it in this light, and 

 not in the way Wolley does, as a thing with a long bill, 

 apt to be shut up in cellars for thousands of years, with 

 no life about it at all. I look upon it too as the scourge 

 of reptiles ; the harbinger of that source of wealth and 

 abundance, the overflowing of the river of knowledge ; 

 and therefore I recommend Ibidiculture to all my friends, 

 reminding them at the same time to say nothing against 

 the sacred bird, for fear of the laws of the land of Egypt 

 being put in force in this country : vide, Herodotus, 

 Euterpe, chap. 65. J 



The first number of the Ibis, which was ready in 

 January, 1859, contained an article by Newton and his 

 brother Edward on the birds of St. Croix, West Indies, 

 the results of their visit to the island in 1857. As the 

 editor, P. L. Sclater, was away during the early part of 

 that year, and was shortly afterwards appointed to the 

 arduous post of Secretary to the Zoological Society, 

 Newton busied himself with the work of getting con- 

 tributors to write articles for the new Journal. The 



* " My friend Mr. Wolf, whose supreme excellence as a zoological artist 

 was only equalled by his readiness to oblige any one who appreciated good 

 work." " Ootheca Wolleyana," Introduction, p. vi. 



t J. W. wanted the magazine to be called " Avis." 



t Letter to H. B. Tristram, December 10, 1858. 



