Oct. 27, 1881] 



NA TURE 



60 ■ 



RECENT ORNITHOLOGICAL WORKS 



The Ornithological Works of Arthur, Ninth Marquis 

 of Twccddnle, F.R.S., etc. Reprinted from the Origi- 

 nals by the desire of his Widow. Edited and Revised 

 by his Nephew, Robert G. Wardlaw Ramsay, F. L.S., 

 etc., Captain 74th Highlanders. Together Avith a Bio- 

 graphical Sketch of the Author, by William Howard 

 Russell, LL. D. 4to. Pp. i-lxiv., 1-760. (London: 

 For Private Circulation, iSSi.) 



Ornitologia delta Papttasia e dclle Mobtcche, di Tommaso 

 Salvadori. Parte seconda. i vol. 410. 706 pp. 

 (Torino, 1S81.) 



THE very handsome volume, in which the works of 

 the late Marquis of Tweeddale have now been col- 

 lected and published, forms a fitting monument of the 

 labours of one of the best ornithologists that this country 

 has ever produced, and its utility to working naturalists 

 cannot be doubted. No one who knew the author of these 

 memoirs will be surprised at the new aspect which is 

 thrown upon his life by the publication of the biographi- 

 cal sketch which Dr. Russell has contributed, though to 

 scientific men Lord Tweeddale was chiefly known as a 

 laborious ornithologist and a thoroughly sound writer and 

 critic ; but from the volume now before us we read the 

 highest testimony to his qualities as a soldier, and receive 

 evidence that the same thoroughness which characterised 

 his scientific work was also prominent throughout the 

 whole of his military career. His first ornithological 

 paper appears to have been published in 1S44, and was a 

 carefully-written essay ; and then for the space of twenty- 

 two years nothing bearing on his favourite study appeared 

 from his pen. His biography, however, shows that during 

 this lapse of time he was completely occupied with his 

 military duties, serving throughout the Sutlej campaign, 

 and later on taking part with the Guards in the memor- 

 able Crimean War ; and even at this distance of time it 

 is refreshing to read the clear and vigorous criticisms 

 which his keen perception enabled him to make at that 

 period on the conduct of military affairs in the East. 

 Retiring from active service in 1863, he appears to have 

 from that time devoted himself to the pursuit of his 

 f.ivourite science, and until his death, in 187S, he worked 

 with unflagging zeal at the ornithology of the Indian 

 region, amassing one of the grandest collections of birds 

 which has as yet been seen in any country, and forming a 

 library unsurpassed for its completeness in ornithological 

 literature. 



To his nephew, Captain Wardlaw Ramsay, who has 

 inherited his scientific tastes, the late Marquis bequeathed 

 his magnificent library and collection, and the pious duty 

 has devolved upon him of editing a complete edition of 

 his uncle's memoirs, at the request of Lady Tweeddale, 

 who has hereby raised a monument to her husband's 

 memory which will keep the latter green in the minds of 

 ornithologists for many a long year to come. Many of 

 Lord Tweeddale' s most important observations were con- 

 tained in letters or short papers to various journals, and 

 there was always a possibility of their being overlooked ; 

 but by the publication of the present volume, with its com- 

 plete indices and cross-references supplied by the editor, 

 there will be no such risk in future. Lord Tweeddale's 



life forms a pleasing picture of what an English nobleman 

 can do for science, if only his intelligence leads him in 

 that direction ; and many who are living can remember 

 with pleasure the days spent beneath the hospitable roof 

 at Chislehurst, where Lord Tweeddale was always glad 

 to welcome any scientific visitors, for his love for 

 science took a deeper turn than the mere following 

 of his own particular branch of ornithology, and 

 he always displayed an interest in every branch of 

 intellectual study. 



The perusal of his many excellent essays only deepens 

 the regret that was felt by every one at the time of his 

 decease, that a life only in its prime, and capable of doing 

 so much good in every way, should have been prematurely 

 closed. 



In our notice of the first volume of Prof. Salvadori's 

 work (Nature, vol. xxiii. p. 240) we gave some account 

 of the scope and origin of this great undertaking, and of 

 the extensive materials upon which the author had based 

 it. It is with great pleasure that we now chronicle the 

 issue of the seccnd volume, and record the announcement 

 that the third, which will complete the work, is far 

 advanced in preparation. 



It will be recollected that the rich collections made by 

 the Italian travellers D'Albertis and Beccari during the-r 

 several expeditions into New Guinea and the adjoining 

 islands, all of which came under the examination of Prof- 

 Salvadori, were the " moving cause " of the present under- 

 taking. Besides amassing numerous minor novelties and 

 whole series of little-known spec'es, these industrious 

 explorers were the original discoverers of four new birds- 

 of-paradise, several new pigeons and parrots of splendid 

 plumage, and the large and fine bird-of-prey named 

 Harpyopsis Novcr-Guincce. It was an obvious, though by 

 no means light and easy task, to weave together the 

 numerous papers and memoirs in which the different 

 collections had been described into a uniform series, and 

 to supplement it by summarising -what was previously 

 known of Papuan ornithology. This is what Prof. Salva- 

 dori has undertaken, and the result will be an excellent 

 work upon a subject with which our previous acquaintance 

 was of a very fragmentary description. 



In his first volume, published in 1880, Prof. Salvadori 

 treated of the Accipitres, Psittaci, and Pieariie of the 

 Papuan sub-region. In the second volume now before 

 us the numerous army of Passeres comes under considera- 

 tion, and swells its size to 706 pages. The plan of treat- 

 ment pursued is exactly the same as that which we have 

 described in the case of the first volume. Every species 

 is fully and fairly described, its complete sjnonymy is 

 given, and a detailed list of the specimens examined from 

 the various localities over which the species is spread is 

 added. 



It appears that the Royal Academy of Sciences of 

 Turin, which published Prof. Salvadori's first volume as one 

 of their " Memorie," have unfortunately not found it con- 

 venient to adopt the same course as regards the second. 

 The author is therefore compelled to appeal to his brother 

 ornithologists to subscribe for copies of the second and 

 third volumes of his most meritorious work, in which we 

 are sure he will receive every sort of support. Few 

 special works of the present day have been so well 

 planned, or so thoroughly carried into execution. 



