April 2, 1897.] 



SCIENCE. 



555 



its pursuit as a pastime, while I even dare in- 

 dulge the hope that persons indifferent to the 

 pleasures of Natural History, except when 

 highly-coloured pictures are presented to them 

 by popular writers, may find in it some correc- 

 tive to the erroneous impressions commonly 

 conveyed by sociolists posing as instructors." 



The ' drawbacks ' and ' shortcomings ' to 

 which the modesty of a master of the art of ex- 

 position and a past master of birdcraft may 

 permit him to allude in speaking of his own 

 performance appear to the present reviewer to 

 be a drawing back from profitless penwork and 

 a coming short of adding anything to the rub- 

 bish heap above specified. The plan of the 

 work is not open to any criticism, except it be 

 captious, and its execution is such as makes 

 mere praise seem impertinent. 



A respect for precision of statement which 

 verges on scrupulosity is a prime quality of this 

 author's mental furnishing, and his ability to re- 

 flect that quality clearly is conspicuous in his 

 literary composition. An ornithologist who 

 should be asked, ' What is a Wagell ? ' would 

 probably reply, 'A young Black-backed Gull.' 

 This would be right, but not exactly right. We 

 will give what Professor Newton says about 

 this name as a single sample of one of his short 

 ' definitions, ' as distinguished from any of the 

 extended articles in this book : 



"Wagell,* the Cornish name of a bird of 

 which Ray and Willughby were told, 30th 

 June, 1662, on Godreve Island near St. Ives in 

 Cornwall (Memorials of Bay, ed. Lankester, p. 

 188, and Eay, Collection of Words, p. 93). Prom 

 what is said of it the Arctic Gull (Skua, p. 870 

 [small caps for cross-reference]), seems to have 

 been meant, but they took it to be the young of 

 what we now know as Larus marinus, and so 

 the name has been attached to that species by 

 subsequent writers, f " 



The Dictionary has appeared in four parts, 



"*The derivation and pronunciation of this word 

 are unknown to me. It is spelt indifferently by Eay 

 •with one I or two. I preserve the latter form as 

 possibly indicating a stress to be laid on the last 

 syllable." 



"tSee Additions to Borlase's Natural History (re- 

 printed from Journ. B. Inst. Cornwall, Oct. 1865), 

 Truro: 1865, p. 46." 



running 1893-'96, the last part having been 

 issued in November or December of 1896. Be- 

 sides finishing the alphabet {Sheafhbill-Zygodac- 

 tyli) and furnishing the permanent title, preface 

 and indexes, it brings us the cream of the whole 

 performance in its Introduction {pp. l-121i). 

 Upon the Britannica basis already indicated 

 Professor Newton has erected an imperishable 

 monument. The task he set himself was noth- 

 ing short of a critical review of ornithology and 

 of ornithologists in few more than one hundred 

 pages. The result is something to which no 

 other writer who has ever lived has attained. 

 It may possibly add somewhat to the luster of 

 a name already renowned ; it will, if any thing 

 can ; but certainly it illuminates the whole his- 

 tory of the subject. Professor Newton is un- 

 equalled, if not unapproached, by any person 

 now living, in his grasp of ornithological litera- 

 ture, and all the resources of his erudition 

 have been brought to bear upon this summation 

 of his subject, with rare tact and skill, with still 

 rarer sense of historical perspective. It is a 

 masterpiece of composition, in perfect focus and 

 adjustment, without a blurred line from start 

 to finish. Professor Newton is nothing if not 

 accurate in statement of facts, nothing if not 

 cautious and conservative in expressions of opin- 

 ions, nothing if not scholarly in big modes of lo- 

 cution ; these are qualities which all his writings 

 display conspicuously, and we have a right to 

 hold him to them, requiring him never to fall 

 short of a standard of excellence he has taught us 

 to expect to find in his work. But we admire not 

 less, in this instance, what we may call the tem- 

 per of this piece of writing — so eminently wise, 

 just, kindly, courteous, dignified, and withal of 

 fine academic flavor without a trace of pedantry. 

 In its impersonal aspects, as mei-ely a matter of 

 erudition, it was no easy thing to do ; it became 

 one of increased difficulty and great delicacy, 

 in its personal bearings. Professor Newton 

 has relaxed nothing of rigid censorship, main- 

 taining his judicial character throughout, and 

 passing severe sentences in more than one case; 

 but few there will be, we imagine, to dispute the 

 fairness with which he has rendered his even- 

 handed decisions. It was an invidious task, 

 to bring so many of his contemporaries to the 

 bar, to answer for their performances ; but it 



