JUNE 131 



amazing what an amount of learning and suggestion 

 is therein presented in compendious form in what 

 plain, vigorous English the surest information is 

 conveyed. 



No one knew better than Newton the indispensable 

 functions of museums; none better understood their 

 limitations, and how laboratory teaching must be barren 

 without open-air study. He loved the living creatures 

 which he studied, and waxed eloquent in denouncing 

 the destructive activity of the mere collector. But 

 though he had a warm heart for the birds, he had an 

 unspoken contempt for sentimentalism. When the 

 Bill of 1893 for amending the Wild Birds' Protection 

 Act was in preparation, we, who were in charge thereof, 

 naturally consulted Professor Newton. One of the 

 provisions of the Bill was intended to protect the eggs 

 of desirable species, as well as the birds that laid them. 

 Newton declared that to attempt this was preposterous. 

 ' How can a magistrate or a policeman know one egg 

 from another ? ' said he. ' I have given a good deal of 

 attention to birds and their eggs, and I declare that I 

 never would swear to what species any egg belonged, 

 unless I had actually seen the bird lay it ! ' 



XXXII 



As an instance of the usefulness of Newton's 

 Dictionary to amateurs, take this little in- par 

 cident, which occurred while its author was devotion 

 on his deathbed. Making my way, rod in ofBird8 

 hand, along the tussocky shore of a Galloway trout 



