282 CATALOGUE OF THE BIRDS 



on the whole, Mr. Sharpe is very right ; and that his refusal to 

 admit any form as a valid species, which cannot he exactly 

 defined and definitely separated from all other forms, is 

 essentially correct. 



This is not the occasion on which to criticise details ; we 

 shall have hereafter our small budget of matters wherein we 

 differ from our author to submit for his consideration. Our chief 

 object at present is to anuounce to all our readers the welcome 

 news of the appearance of this third volume. Out of the 367 

 Species described, more than one-sixth occur within the limits of 

 our Indian Empire, so that, like its predecessors, the volume is 

 one that even a working-field ornithologist out here can well 

 afford to carry about with him. 



But while we rejoice in what we have received, and grate- 

 fully congratulate our author on what he has achieved, we must, 

 like the daughters of the Horse-leech, persistently cry for more, 

 and urge upon him, and upon the authorities of the British 

 Museum, the necessity for greater expedition in the publication 

 of future volumes. 



What one man can do that Mr. Sharpe, we know, will do ; 

 but having embarked on the publication of this memorable 

 catalogue, which, as we have said before, will form a new and 

 advanced standpoint for the operations of at least one genera- 

 tion of ornithologists, it behoves the Trustees to see that it is 

 prosecuted with vigour, aud that suitable assistance is afforded 

 to the author. 



Situated as he now is, it has taken Mr. Sharpe three years 

 to prepare Vols. II and III, dealing with about 560 species. 

 At this rate the work will be complete in about 90 years, of 

 which at least 80 will, so far as Mr. Sharpe is concerned, (should 

 he live so long which the Trustees can hardly expect) have been 

 devoted to clerical labour, which could have been equally well 

 done by far less-gifted men, and a great deal of it by mere clerks. 



It is the falsest possible economy to use up our author's great 

 powers in this way : having got a good man, the Trustees will, 

 we hope, endeavour to do their duty to the country by getting 

 the greatest amount of the highest kind of work out of him. 



With a proper staff of assistants to relieve him of all clerical 

 and manual work, Mr. Sharpe could probably deal with 2,000 

 species a year, and the whole catalogue might be completed, with 

 appendices up to date, within 10 yeai's. 



Thus completed, the work would be alike honourable to the 

 nation, the Trustees and the author; it would ensure almost 

 inconceivable progress in exact ornithological research, and 

 with it in the elucidation of many of the most crucially impor- 

 tant zoological problems. 



