416 REVIEWS AND BOOK NOTICES. 
never felt it to be more so than in the present instance; but, hav- 
ing undertaken to keep the readers of the Naruranist au courant 
with the progress of American ornithology, we shall not shrink 
from any responsibility this may involve. We recognize Mr. 
Ridgway’s paper as highly meritorious, and a valuable contribu- 
tion to philosophic ornithology ; it is good strong work in a com- 
paratively new field. But until the truths it elucidates are gener- 
ally recognized and become the common property of ornithologists, 
it will remain eminently proper to handle the subject not exactly 
after Mr. Ridgway’s method; for he writes as if his views were 
both novel and original, which is not the case. To speak plainly, 
the paper is based entirely upon Mr. Allen’s views, without the 
slightest allusion to this author; and is illustrated chiefly by 
cases already published, yet without the proper references. This 
is of no consequence to science, in the abstract, and does not 
detract from the scientific merit of the paper, which lies in its 
pointed and forcible illustration of certain laws; but in science, 
much as elsewhere, individual rights must be respected — noblesse 
oblige. In raising an ethical question by our articles of impeach- 
ment, we will put the charge of appropriating Mr. Allen’s work 
without acknowledgment into this shape :—a, either Mr. Ridg- 
` way’s views, here enunciated, are original, or, b, they are not. If a, 
we acquit him of scientific plagiarism, and accredit him with dis- 
covery, but accuse him of suppressing the fact, known to him, that 
the same discoveries had been already made by another person, and 
published about eighteen months previously. If b, the case speaks 
for itself too plainly to require further remarks. Mr. Ridgway 
has been for so long a time an industrious and painstaking student 
of ornithology that the facts he here elucidates cannot well have 
escaped his own investigations; and the feeling that he fairly 
earned his results may have led him to disregard the simple fact 
that he was anticipated in publication. Without further personal 
remarks we shall quote the record * in substantiation of what we 
say ; and if we are unjust, or even incorrect in any particular, the 
pages of the Naruratist are, of course, open to a refutation of 
our statements. 
The point of Mr. Ridgway’s paper is this: a melanistic ten- 
*ALLEN, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., ii, 1871, No. 3, pp. 229-249. ID. i cit., iti, July, 1872, 
—COUES, hila. Acad., July, 1872, 60.— ID., Key N. irds, 
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