I So 



NA rURE 



[June 20, 1907 



pany with the late Henry Evans, on the west coast of 

 Scotland and elsewhere. 



The most important and far-ruachinjj:' event in the 

 life of Newton occurred in the year i8()h, when he was 

 elected to the then newly-established professorship of 

 zooloffy and comparative anatomy, a scmieuhat poorlv 

 paid office, which he held until his death on the 7th day 

 of the present month, although he had for some years 

 J,nven up lecturini,^ The active part which he (in 

 conjunction with his old friend iMr. J. W. Clark) took 

 in the development of the Zoolog-ical and Anatomical 

 Museum, and the energy with which he did all in his 

 power to promote the study of zoology in the univer- 

 sity, are known to all Cambridge biologists. As to 

 his lectures, these, despite the fact that he was to a 

 great extent a specialist in ornithology, covered a 

 very wide field, in which, however, the systematic and 

 distributional aspects of his subject loomed large. 



So long ago as 1859 Newton was elected a Fellow 

 of the Zoological Society of London ; and two vears 

 later commenced a long, although, of course, inter- 

 rupted, service on the council of that bodv, of which 

 he was also for many years a vice-president. In 1S70 

 he received the Fellowship of the Royal Societv, and 

 -Served on the council from iSyq to 1881, and again 

 from 1S89 to 1891, being also a vice-president during 

 the latter period. I'Vom the same body he received in 

 iqoo one of the Royal gold medals, while he was also 

 the recipient in the same year of a gold medal from 

 the Linnean Society, of which he was for manv years 

 a fellow. It should be added that in 1877 he was 

 re-elected to a fellowship at his old college, which thus 

 remained his home until the end of his davs. Needless 

 to say, the Cambridge Philosophical Society claimed 

 him for a long period as a fellow, and subsequently 

 as president. 



Two years after his election to the professorial chair, 

 Ihatis to say, in 1868, Newton brought before the 

 British Association the subject of the protection of 

 birds; and he was subsequently for several years 

 chairman of the close-time committee, during which 

 period the first three Acts devoted to bird-protection 

 were passed by Parliament. .As the British Govern- 

 ment was the first to move in this matter, Newton 

 may be regarded as the father of bird-protection 

 throughout the world, and, indeed, of all legislation 

 of this nature, which had its origin in his early 

 efforts. His endeavours to check the hideous cruelties 

 connected with the collecting of so-called osprey 

 plumes form another of his many claims to the grati- 

 tude of posterity. The establishment and mainten- 

 ance of stations for observing the migration of birds 

 also claimed a large share of his time and attention, 

 and he was for many years chairman of the British 

 Association Migration of Birds Committee. The im- 

 portant results which have accrued (and are still ac- 

 cruing) from these observations are familiar to all 

 naturalists. 



The scientific writings of Newton, which relate 

 chiefly to ornithology, are remarkable for their 

 finished and scholarly style, as well as for their ex- 

 treme accuracy. To ensure both these attributes the 

 author would, in the first place, defer sending his 

 MS. to press as long as possible, and when it was in 

 type he would go on correcting and refining until both 

 printers and publishers must in many cases have been 

 driven to the verge of insanity. .As he was also a 

 slow writer, the production of such of his works as 

 were issued in parts extended over unconscionably long 

 periods. Although, as already mentioned, character- 

 ised by the excellence of their literary style, Newton's 

 writinp-s in not a few instances were marked, more 

 especially in footnotes, by criticisms of perhaps rather 

 more caustic character than the occasion demanded. 

 NO. 1964, VOL. 76] 



Newton's earliest recorded paper appears to be one 

 on the cedar-bird, published in the Zoologist for 1852, 

 this being followed in the next year's issue of the 

 same journal by one on the habits of the kiwi. His 

 visit to the West Indies was marked by the appearance 

 in 1859, in the first volume of the Jhis, of a paper on 

 the birds of those islands. This reference to the Ibis 

 affords a convenient opportunity of mentioning that 

 Newton took a prominent part in founding that in- 

 valuable journal, of which he edited the second series 

 (1865-70). He also took an active share in founding 

 the Record of Zoological Literature (now the Zoo- 

 logical l\'ccord)'-:i publication without which the 

 study of zoology would now be practically impossible. 

 To the first six volumes Newton contributed the 

 annual record of the class Aves, while he acted as 

 editor from 1871 to 1874 (vols, vii.-ix.). It may be 

 added that his exertions and influence were no less 

 important at a later period in bringing about the 

 establishment of the British Ornithologists' Union. 



The fact that during the 'sixties his brother Edward 

 held the post of auditor-general of Mauritius (sub.se- 

 quently becoming governor) seems to have directed 

 the attention of .Alfred Newton to the birds, both living 

 and extinct, of the Mascarene Islands. In 1861 and 

 1863 we find him, for instance, describing certain 

 new birds from Madagascar and Mauritius; while in 

 1868 he and his brother communicated to the Royal 

 .Society a most important paper on the remains " of 

 the dodo-like bird from Rodriguez commonly known 

 as the solitaire (Pczophaps solitaria), this paper being 

 published in the Phil. Trans, for the following year. 

 The same subject was continued at a later period, 

 when Newton and Mr. J, VV. Clark communicated a 

 joint paper, published in the " Zoology of the Transit 

 of \'enus Expedition of 1874, " a second paper, on the 

 extinct birds of Rodriguez, other than the solitaire, 

 being contributed by Dr. A. Giinther and Newton 

 to the same volume. The dodo was also a bird in 

 which Newton was greatly interested, although the 

 description of its remains from the Mare aux Songes 

 was undertaken by his brother, Sir Edward Newton. 



.At an early period in his career Newton contributed 

 to the'/bis (vol. iii., 1861) an epitome of John WoUey's 

 investigations into the history of the extermination 

 of the great auk, or gare-fowl ; and from that time 

 to his death the story of that bird was a subject to 

 which his attention was constantly devoted. Indeed, 

 we believe that at the very end of "his active career he 

 was engaged on a monograph which should comprise 

 all that is known of that remarkable species. 



One of Newton's earliest papers was " Suggestions 

 for forming Collections of Birds' Eggs," published 

 in London in i860, and from that time onward the 

 study of eggs attracted a large share of his attention. 

 .About this time he appears to have come into posses- 

 sion of the magnificent collection made by the late 

 John U'oUey — on condition, we believe, that he would 

 write a descriptive catalogue embodyin<i the collector's 

 notes. The first part of " Ootheca ^.'olleyana " ap- 

 peared in 1864, while the last was issued only a few 

 months before the author's death. For a long period 

 Newton believed that eggs might afford important 

 clues to many vexed questions connected with avian 

 relations; but this hope he was reluctantly com- 

 pelled, in the main, to abandon. The WoUey collec- 

 tion of eggs, largely augmented by its late owner, is, 

 we believe, to pass to the University of Cambridge, 

 as is also Newton's valuable ornithological library. 



To the general public the late professor is perhaps 

 best known as editor of the first two volumes of the 

 revised and enlarged fourth edition of " Varrcll's 

 British Birds," the first part of which appeared in 

 1871, although the second volume was not completed 



