Obituary. 627 
valuable contributions to ornithology. His last great paper 
in the first series of ‘The Ibis’ was on the “ Irruption of 
Pallas’s Sandgrouse (Syrrhaptes paradoxus) in 1863.” This, 
as usual, he wished to defer until further information had 
been obtained, but he was prevailed upon to write whilst the 
subject was still fresh in the mind of the public. The paper 
concludes with a strongly-worded protest against the in- 
hospitable treatment of these interesting Siberian migrants 
in search of a new home. Some years afterwards (1888) 
there was another irruption, especially into Scotland, and 
Newton had the pleasure of receiving a newly-hatched chick 
from the sand-hills of the Moray Firth, which he exhibited 
at the ensuing meeting of the British Association, and which 
was duly figured in ‘ The Ibis’ (1890, pl. vii.). 
It may be mentioned here that there were two subjects in 
which Newton was especially interested, and on which he 
occasionally wrote in ‘ The Ibis.” The first of these relates 
to the Avifauna, existing and extinct, of the Mascarene 
Islands. He managed, in conjunction with his brother 
Edward, sometime Colonial Secretary of the Mauritius, to 
procure a fine series of bones of the Dodo from that island, 
and also of the Solitaire of Rodriguez (Pezophaps solitarius). 
He remarks that ‘‘a more wonderful structure than the 
Dodo’s skeleton it is not easy for an ornithologist to 
conceive.” The second of the two subjects relates to the 
Great Auk, which he may be said to have inherited from 
Wolley, and on which he was engaged at the time of his 
death. He made a sort of census of the remains of this 
bird known to exist about 1870, and returned them as con- 
sisting of 72 skins, 9 skeletons, the separate bones of about 
40 individuals, and 65 eggs. His last notice respecting it 
in * The Ibis’? was written in 1898, when he described, not 
without a touch of emotion, the ‘‘Orcadian Home of the Gare- 
fowl,” and referred to the tragedy of 1813 (op. cit. p. 587). 
His annual cruise with the late Henry Evans in Scottish 
waters gave him the desired opportunity, and he succeeded 
in discovering a low platform of rock, protected by the 
larger island of Papa Westray, where there would be room 
