462 EDITORIAL NOTE 



advantage over the non-specialist in that his knowledge enables him to value and select the 

 evidence with a confidence that cannot be felt by one who is dealing with the relatively 

 unfamiliar. Happily there are not wanting signs that the British ornithologist is turning to 

 specialisation. A notable example has been set by Mr. H. E. Howard in his admirable mono- 

 graph on the British Warblers, and his example is being followed, though it has not been 

 rivalled. The results of this closer study, if rightly pursued, is likely to reveal aspects of bird- 

 life of which our predecessors did not even realise the existence. 



The work of specialised observation can, however, only yield the results hoped for if the 

 second difficulty alluded to is met. It is that the study of the Habits of Birds, or, to be more 

 exact, Bird Behaviour this term being used to cover both habit and instinct has not yet been 

 brought into proper relationship, on the one hand, with the study of Animal Behaviour, of 

 which it is but a part ; and, on the other hand, with that of structure, from which it has every- 

 thing to gain, and to which it is an essential aid. The importance of this latter relationship 

 has been frequently insisted upon in these pages and elsewhere by our contributor W. P. 

 Pycraft, and it does not require to be emphasised further here. The importance of the con- 

 nection with Animal Behaviour is dealt with fully in the chapter on the " Study of Bird 

 Behaviour" (p. 596). All that need here be said is that the neglect of this connection was 

 defensible while the study of Animal Behaviour was being set upon a firm foundation. It is no 

 longer defensible now that the foundation is built. Not only has the ornithologist important 

 contributions to make to this relatively new study, but he will find in it a fresh source of 

 inspiration, and a powerful aid to further achievement. 



A few words in conclusion as to the plan and scope of the book. 



In a work to which there are several contributors, it becomes necessary to bring into 

 harmony the claim of the individual writer to express himself in the way he thinks best, and 

 the claim of the Editor to subordinate individual treatment to the general plan. To strike 

 the just balance between the two is far from easy, perhaps impossible. The tendency in the 

 present work has favoured the individual. The gain has been a vigour and freshness of treat- 

 ment that is not always conspicuous in works of this kind ; the loss a certain weakening of 

 methodical arrangement which is more particularly apparent in the earlier part of the work, 

 owing partly, however, to circumstances that were neither contemplated nor desired, nor, at the 

 time, capable of remedy. The loss, it is hoped, will be practically made good by the completeness 

 of the Index. The gain will be appreciated by all except those who still cherish the illusion 

 generally from self-interested motives that science is respectable only when dull. 



An adverse criticism levelled at the scope of the work was that not enough space is given 

 to the geographical distribution of species. By one or two reviewers, who did not take the 

 trouble to read the Preface, it was even assumed that a full treatment of distribution was part 

 of the purpose of the book. The Preface states that " a detailed account of the geographical 

 distribution of our birds lies outside the scope of the work, which professes to deal only com- 

 prehensively with their habits, but short summaries embodying the most recent information 

 will be found under the head of each species." Any one who reads Mr. Jourdain's summaries 

 under the head Distribution in the " Classified Notes " will hardly deny that what is promised is 

 given. But to have given more, to have supplied a detailed account of geographical distribu- 

 tion, would have greatly added to the size of a work which has owing again to the generosity 

 of the publishers already considerably exceeded the limits prescribed. To have given this 

 detailed account within the limits prescribed would inevitably have led to the proverbial fall 

 between two stools. From this blunder the work has happily been saved. It must be judged 

 primarily as a contribution to the study of Bird Behaviour. By almost all our reviewers it has 

 so been judged. And we have every reason to be satisfied with their verdict. 



