BRITISH BIRDS AND BIRD LOVERS. 167 



migration, of the abundance or paucity of allied species in 

 different years, of the curious changes of colour in the plumage 

 of many shore birds without their undergoing a moult, together 

 with that special crux of most departments of natural history, 

 what constitutes a species ? are specimens of the speculations to 

 which modern ornithology addresses herself. But even more 

 difficult and delicate enquiries remain on such points as the 

 presence of instinct and violition in bird life. The disappear- 

 ance, whether partial or total, of different species from the 

 several provinces of Great Britain, or even altogether from our 

 islands, forms another interesting branch of study, and others 

 might be indicated if the extent and variety of questions which 

 imperatively demand an answer from the scientific ornithologist 

 had not been sufficiently demonstrated. Perhaps the being 

 brought face to tace with nature while prosecuting these and 

 the like inquiries, and freedom from the drudgery involved in 

 the use of the microscope indoors, enter largely into the 

 pleasures of the bird lover. And yet ornithology demands in 

 the open air minute and extended observation, large powers of 

 discrimination and comparison, and an enthusiasm which never 

 flags at disappointment. The ornithologist might almost be 

 weighed against the comprehensive standard of virtues required 

 of the angler in the seventeenth century. He must be untiring 

 and eagle-eyed, sanguine yet disinclined to believe on insufficient 

 premises, a clever anatomist, a well-taught disciple of the induc- 

 tive method, skilful at forming a hypothesis, but slow to admit 

 its truth without the most rigorous collection of instances and 

 testing of their agreement. Such an admirable Crichton is the 

 scientific ornithologist of the nineteenth century, and amongst 

 our own countrymen such men can be counted on the fingers. 

 We must own to a strong sympathy for another kind of 

 ornithologist, the practical worker of the parsonage lawn or the 

 doctor's back garden. In many a country rectory Gilbert 

 White's charming book and innocent life furnish a pattern for 



