182 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



CRITICAL NOTES ON SOME STATEMENTS OF 

 NEWTON ON BIRDS. 



By E. P. Butterfield. 



Newton's work is a magnum opus indeed, and I am frank 

 enough to confess that such a work, involving such a combination 

 of qualities, could not have been written by any other living 

 man ; but whilst recognizing this fact, one can have no hesitation 

 in affirming that the weakest portion is that relating to obser- 

 vations of field naturalists. 



Birds differ much in their habits, and what is true of one 

 species in one locality may not be accurate in another, even 

 when such localities are not wide apart, and the observations 

 which I have made below, I am quite willing to admit, may be 

 challenged by the observations relating to other districts; but, 

 whilst admitting this, I cannot help but think that some of the 

 observations of Professor Newton in his monumental work are 

 much too sweeping in their character, and will have to be 

 modified in any future edition. 



Newton, after alluding to the male of the Blackcap {Sylvia 

 atiicapilla) sharing with the female the duty of incubation, refers 

 to writers who have declared that the male whilst so employed 

 has been known to sing— "a statement," the Professor adds, 

 " that seems hardly credible." I do not know on what ground 

 he wishes it to be inferred that he disbelieves the statement, 

 but I am very much mistaken if I have not heard the male 

 sing, not perhaps his best song, but somewhat insouciantly, 

 whilst in the act of incubation. 



Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). — Its arrival, Newton says, is at 

 once proclaimed by its song, which is confined to the male sex. 

 Contrary to these statements I have frequently known the 

 Cuckoo after its arrival to be exceedingly reticent, and I have 

 good grounds that, occasionally at least, the female does utter 

 the well-known cry popularly attributed exclusively to the male 



