554 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. V. No. 118. 



Britannica contains a long series of short articles 

 on birds, which have seldom been approached 

 and never equalled for pith and point in the 

 literature of Ornithology. The same publica- 

 tion also contains two extensive articles, under 

 the heads of Aves and of Ornithology respec- 

 tively, in which the science itself and the his- 

 tory of the science are set forth in a masterly 

 manner. It does not suffice to call these con- 

 tributions able and authoritative ; they are 

 mainly from the most facile and forceful pen 

 that has ever been bent in the service of the 

 science of which Professor Newton is a fore- 

 most exponent and ornament. The whole of 

 these articles have served as the foundation of 

 the present Dictionary, for which purpose they 

 have been modified into something like con- 

 tinuity, so far as an alphabetical arrangement 

 will admit ; and supplemented by the inter- 

 calation of a much greater number, be they 

 short or long, to serve the same end. "Of 

 these additions by far the most important have 

 been furnished by my fellow-worker, Dr. 

 Gadow, which bring the anatomical portion to a 

 level hitherto unattained, I believe, in any book 

 that has appeared' ' (Note, p. v). Less numerous 

 though not less valuable articles have been con- 

 tributed by Mr. Lydekker, and others of great 

 merit by Professor Eoy. The result may be 

 correctly characterized as altogether the best 

 book about birds that has ever been written in 

 English or any other language. 



Of writings on Ornithology there is no end. 

 As Professor Newton says {p. S2), "the de- 

 sponding mind may fear the possibility of its 

 favorite study expiring through being smothered 

 by its own literature." So huge has the ac- 

 cumulation become that the most expert bibli- 

 ographer could no more than guess vaguely the 

 total of titles a complete catalogue would con- 

 tain; no such catalogue exists, nor is likely to 

 ever be produced. The total number of species 

 now known may be somewhere about eleven 

 thousand only ; but they will average several 

 synonyms apiece, in Latin binomial form. 

 Generic names in current usage are several 

 thousand, and their synonyms are still more 

 numerous. Non-technical names of birds in 

 English use are derived from almost every lan- 

 guage that has been reduced to writing, and a 



vast number of purely English ' phrase-names ' 

 (consisting of more than one word) are em- 

 ployed. We must add to this rough tally all 

 the biological terms which are peculiar to Orni- 

 thology, or which this science shares in common 

 with other branches of zoology. A bare list of 

 words which might serve as entries for a Dic- 

 tionary of Birds would make a bulky volume, 

 without a line of text to define them ; and any 

 treatment of such a mass of verbiage in its en- 

 tirety would be practically impossible, even 

 were it desirable. A majority of such candi- 

 dates for lexicography make a rubbish heap not 

 worth overhauling. No one knows this better 

 than Professor Newton, who has made no at- 

 tempt in this work ' ' to include in it all the 

 names under which Birds, even the commonest, 

 are known " (p. v). He characterizes his selec- 

 tion of names to be entered as ' quite arbitrary ;' 

 but we may be permitted to testify that his 

 arbitration is that of a tactful expert who 

 understands the beauty of utility, and has gov- 

 erned himself accordingly. How many entries 

 there may actually be we have hardly any idea ; 

 the alphabet runs for more than a thousand 

 pages ; the articles range from a line or two to 

 several pages, presumably according to the 

 author's estimate of the relative interest or im- 

 portance of their respective subjects. Eegard- 

 ing the form as distinguished from the substance 

 of the work we cannot do better than here re- 

 peat its eminent author's significant words 

 (p. vii): 



' ' I would say that the alphabetical order has 

 been deliberately adopted in preference to the 

 taxonomic because I entertain grave doubt of 

 the validity of any systematic arrangement as 

 yet put forth, some of the later attempts being, 

 in my opinion, among the most fallacious, and 

 a good deal worse than those they are intended 

 to supersede. That in a few directions an ap- 

 proach to improvement has been made is not to 

 be denied ; but how far that approach goes is 

 uncertain. I only see that mistakes are easily 

 made, and I have no wish to mislead others by 

 an assertion of knowledge which I know no one 

 to possess ; yet with all these drawbacks and 

 shortcomings I trust that this Dictionary will aid 

 a few who wish to study Ornithology in a scien- 

 tific spirit, as well as many who merely regard 



