23 6 Feecent Literature. rei 
Among various merits which a literary performance may possess that 
of sheer utility is surely not to be despised. The present reviewer, for 
example, is far enough along in the business of writing about birds to 
have entertained grave doubts concerning his own omniscence or infalli- 
bility, and to be very much obliged indeed for information that he lacks. 
During the past few years he has made much ornithological manuscript, 
the outcome of which at present concerns nobody but himself. During a 
like period, one or more Parts of this ‘ Dictionary’ has lain or have lain 
upon his desk, instead of standing upon his shelves; and he has acquired 
the habit of saying to himself, upon taking up the pen of a morning, 
before shedding ink upon any topic of the day, “I wonder what Prof. 
Newton has to say about that?” Ten to one, he has found something he 
wanted, if it were only a reliable date, or a right spelling, or a name he 
never knew before, or an exact definition, or a sound etymology, or bit of 
early history — or whatnot in the way of positive, reliable information. 
Ten to one, again, in looking for something he wanted, he found some- 
thing else he should have wanted had he fully realized his own obtuse- 
ness; and one thing led to another, till he had been reading the ‘ Diction- 
ary’ all the morning instead of minding his own business. He therefore 
warns all users of the ‘ Dictionary’ that his case is not likely to be 
singular! But he feels also quite certain that some considerable time of 
every intending writer upon birds can in nowise be more pleasantly or 
more profitably spent than in informing himself of what Professor Newton 
has already set down concerning them; and if it be happily true that ‘the 
written word remaineth” in the mind of the would-be writer, there can be 
no reasonable doubt that his own performance will be improved accord- 
ingly. This is a test of usefulness to which only a thoroughly good book 
can be put without detriment to its reputation; yet this ‘ Dictionary’s’ 
credit will increase with every such trial to which it may be subjected. 
The ‘shortcomings’ of the ‘ Dictionary’ are innumerable, being no fewer 
than the number of all‘the names which exist in ornithology, but which 
are not entered alphabetically in this work. They are the lengths to 
which the author did not see fit to go, and as such are best dismissed in 
his own words (Preface, pp. vzz, vzzz) : 
“Tt has been my object throughout to compress into the smallest 
compass the information intended to be conveyed. It would have been 
easier to double the bulk of the work, but the limits of a single volume 
are already strained, and to extend it to a second would in several ways 
destroy such usefulness as it may possess. . . . It will be obvious to nearly 
every one that the number of names of Birds included in a work of this 
kind might be increased almost indefinitely. Whether it will ever be 
possible for me to supply these additions, and others, must depend on 
many things, and not least on the reception accorded by the public to the 
present volume.” 
As touching this contingency, with its implicit promise, we may 
express our gratification at seeing the ‘ Dictionary’ advertised for sale in 
