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NOTICES OF NEW BOOKS. 



A Dictionary of Birds. By Alfred Newton, assisted by Hans 

 Gadow, with contributions from R. Lydekker, C. S. Roy, 

 & R. W. Shufeldt. Cheap issue, unabridged. Adam & 

 Charles Black. 



We may indeed welcome a cheaper edition— and unabridged — 

 of this great work on Ornithology, of which Parts I. and II. were 

 reviewed in these pages by another pen in 1893. Since then 

 the work has been completed, and now, in a single volume of 

 1232 pages, is within the reach of most naturalists, for its circula- 

 tion will not be confined to ornithologists alone. 



It is seldom that an Introduction forms such an important 

 feature in a book as does the one which accompanies the volume 

 under notice. It is a history of ornithology from the time of 

 Aristotle, written by an expert both in the science and its litera- 

 ture. It is essentially a criticism throughout, and though the 

 author alludes to the charm in Gilbert White by the apparent 

 absence of conscious personality in those classical pages, his 

 own individuality is, and happily is, stamped on every para- 

 graph. When criticism is really intended it should not be in- 

 vertebrate ; a freedom of expression avoids the sting of innuendo, 

 and even hostility is disarmed when anonymity is absent. 

 These reflections are prompted by the weird appearance of 

 Seebohm in the review of British ornithologists. He is linked 

 with Morris ! Whether this course unduly extols Morris, or 

 underestimates Seebohm, is a question for the qualified reader, 

 and is probably the crux criticorum of this encyclopaedic sum- 

 mary. Few will disagree with the fair and judicial estimate of" 

 other writers : Le Vaillant is honestly treated, and the verdict 

 on the late George Robert Gray is both kindly in spirit and 

 brilliant in pungency. Macgillivray is classed with Willughby, 

 and ornithological genius receives its recognition. Of Buffon — 

 " It is certain that he despised any kind of scientific phraseology, 



