Obituary. 629 
a Vice-President both of the Royal and Zoological Societies. 
Somewhat late in life (1901) he was awarded one of the 
Royal medals, and Lord Lister took occasion to remark that 
the progress of ornithology in this country was due mainly 
to his ‘‘eritical, suggestive, and stimulating influence.” 
In the same year he was also awarded the gold medal of the 
Linnean Society. 
As an ornithological writer Newton obtained a world- 
wide reputation. Amongst his numerous publications we 
might perhaps select the first two volumes of the fourth 
edition of ‘Yarrell, the ‘Dictionary of Birds, and the 
‘Ootheca Wolleyana’ for special notice. There can be 
no doubt that a great impulse was given to the study 
of British Birds by his preparation of the fourth edition of 
‘Yarrell, which, so far as he went, was thoroughly brought 
up to date. But here comes in one of Prof. Newton’s 
peculiarities. The first volume appeared in 1874, and the 
second was not completed until 1882—rather a long time for 
the subscribers to remain in suspense. The fact is that the 
Editor was always waiting for fresh matter and, rather than 
turn out an imperfect piece of work, he was content to wait, 
and so the fourth edition of ‘ Yarrell’ was finished—and 
well finished—by another hand. The ‘ Dictionary of Birds’ 
stands on a somewhat different footing. We have already 
seen that, when the subject of Birds had to be dealt with, 
editors and publishers always turned to Alfred Newton ; 
and thus it came to pass that during the publication of the 
ninth edition of the ‘Encyclopedia Britannica’ he was 
chosen, as a matter of course, to write about Birds. That 
he was one of the most valued contributors to that very 
useful publication no one can doubt, and the numerous 
articles bearing his signature have been incorporated, with 
some additions and emendations, in the ‘ Dictionary of Birds,’ 
to which also other writers of eminence have contributed. 
The article “ Birds,” for instance, is essentially composite, 
whilst that on ‘Fossil Birds” has been largely recon- 
structed with the help of Mr. Lydekker, and formed the 
subject of an address delivered before the Second Inter- 
SER. IX.— VOL. I. aT 
