94 BRITISH BIRDS. [vol. xv. 



regrettable that the present-day cost of printing and publish- 

 ing should have necessitated the reduction of the volume 

 by nearly a half of its bulk. Probably the best and most 

 characteristic letters of the Professor have been preserved, 

 but there are many more which would have been welcome ; 

 moreover, had it been possible, it would have greatly added 

 to the interest of the book if short biographies, and even some 

 portraits, of his correspondents could have been given. 

 The lack of illustrations is certainly disappointing ; a picture 

 of the beloved Elveden (Elden) was to have been expected, 

 some of the Professor's sketches of birds might justly have 

 been reproduced, a facsimile of one of his letters, or at least 

 his signature, would have been of interest, and portraits of 

 Newton at different ages might have been included. The 

 character sketch of the Professor drawn by his nephew, 

 C. M. Newton, gives a capital impression of his later day 

 appearance but I prefer the full-faced portrait, as reproduced 

 in British Birds Magazine (Vol. I., p. 33), to that given as a 

 frontispiece to the book. 



It would have been useful, if not instructive, to have had 

 at least a list of the obituary notices which appeared at the 

 time of the Professor's death, and in spite of Sir Archibald's 

 Geikie's preface. Sir A. E. Shipley's reminiscences. Professor 

 Skeat's appreciation and Dr. F. H. H. Guillemard's 

 recollections, which are published in the book, I feel that it 

 is, perhaps, left too much to the reader to discover what a 

 truly remarkable man Newton was. Mr. Wollaston knew 

 the Professor well, and it would have been valuable for the 

 general reader had he given a short summary of his personal 

 views of the greatest ornithologist of his day. His Dictionary 

 of Birds, with its thousands of references and quotations, is a 

 piece of work which it is doubtful if any other man could 

 have compiled, and, though it may be possible to keep the 

 work up to date in future editions, the original foundations 

 will always be found to have been well and truly laid, and 

 it must be remembered that it is to Newton that the world 

 is indebted for this standard work. That he was slow in 

 the publication of his books is undeniable, but this delay 

 was solely due to his passion for accuracy. At the time of 

 his death he left a vast stock of material for writing " The 

 Story of the Gare-fowl " and " The Bustard in Britain " ; 

 anyone who has seen this collection of manuscripts and 

 pamphlets has probably gazed at it in reverence mingled 

 with awe since it comprises as heterogeneous a mass of 

 scribblings and notes as it is possible to conceive. The 

 Professor had hoped to have written books on both these 



