240 Recent Literature. ; AGH 
of our science lately opened an address he delivered to the Congress at 
Budapest in the following words, in part: 
‘‘From the time of our great master, Linnzus, and even from that of 
the patriarchs of Science, Professor Newton traces the gradual develop- 
ment of Ornithology; and not only do I find little to add to this masterly 
treatise, but my very criticisms are there forestalled, and I offer this tribute 
to the genius of my talented countryman, not without a slight feeling 
of envy at the vigorous English in which the memoir is composed, and 
the truly wonderful way in which his facts are marshalled and arranged. 
With some regret, therefore, I have laid aside my exposition of the 
various schemes of Classification which I had intended to place before 
you, because I feel that I could not say anything which Professor Newton, 
has not said ten times better; and although his article may not be ‘milk 
for babes,’ by the earnest devotee of Ornithology it will be read with 
intense interest.” 
To whatever school, ‘ old’ or ‘new,’ Dr. Sharpe may be held to belong, 
this shows that our eminent colleague also knows the good wine which 
needs no bush; and we should not protract the present review were all as 
well qualified to pass judgment as he is, or were Professor Newton’s 
‘Dictionary’ as well known to the rank and file of American ornithologists 
as we trust it may speedily become —albeit the luxury of praising that 
which may be justly praised without stint is ours in the present instance, 
and one which we propose to enjoy yet further, before we put a period to 
its expression. We wish to show, if possible, how Professor Newton has 
accomplished the apparently impossible feat of profitably reviewing orni- 
thology as a whole in 120 0ctavo pages. He first notices pretty thoroughly 
the chief ornithological works begun if not completed before the begin- 
ning of the present century —not an extremely difficult task, though it 
consumes one-sixth of his allowable space (pp. 7-27). With. the present 
century began — or began to multiply —three different classes of works, 
namely: Faun, Monographs, and publications of scientific societies. 
With the last of these he cannot undertake to deal, ‘‘ except they be of 
prime importance.” The monographs come next for treatment, including 
great works on special groups of birds, generally illustrated with plates 
to which the text is more or less a secondary consideration. These are 
disposed of on pp. 27-28. Attention is then turned to general and partic- 
ularly to systematic works in which plates, if they exist at all, form but 
an accessory to the text — works such as those of Illiger, Vieillot, Tem- 
minck, and so on to Gray and Giebel. In this connection Professor 
Newton does not hesitate to kill the circle-squarers — Macleay, Vigors, 
and Swainson—over again; he handles them as one might unruly 
children caught making mischief, and we cannot refrain from giving 
a quotation (pp. 34, 35) : 
“True it is that there were not wanting ... men in these [British] 
islands whose common sense refused to accept the metaphorical doctrine 
and mystical jargon of the Quinarians, but so strenuously and persist- 
