1921 .] Recently published Ornithological Works. 7 41 
just fourteen years after his death, but there the resem¬ 
blance ends, for whereas Newton's works improved by delay 
the same cannot be said of this book, which the author tells 
us has had to be cut down by nearly half owing to the present 
price of printing. 
The main object of a “Life” should be to give a clear 
and impartial account of the chief characteristics of the 
“Subject/'* and those of us, who knew Newton, get a good 
and truthful picture ; but a “ Life” has also another func¬ 
tion, namely, by showing the intimate methods by which a 
man earned his reputation, others might be spurred on to go 
and do likewise ; on this point, in our opinion, the volume 
fails, for it lacks continuity in its arrangement and does not 
lead the reader easily from chapter to chapter, so that we 
fear that the present generation of ornithologists will rather 
keep it as an ornament to their bookshelves than assimilate 
the large amount of valuable information contained in it, 
and understand the methods which made Newton the fore¬ 
most and soundest ornithologist of his day. 
Mr. Wollaston has the capacity for writing delightful 
books, but this is not one of them. To read through and 
epitomize Newton's vast correspondence can have been no 
easy task, but the result would have made more pleasant 
reading had the compiler compiled less and written more. 
The best and most concise description of Newton is found 
in the chapter by Sir A. E. Shipley, where we have a truly 
delightful and accurate description of the Professor, but the 
fh'st half of that chapter, containing merely a dry descrip¬ 
tion of Cambridge in Newton's early days, might well have 
been omitted when space was an object, or a map, occupying 
a page, w r ould have been much clearer and more instruc¬ 
tive. Another useful cut might have been the omission 
of the three pages of telegrams to the “ Red Lion’s 
Club.” There is no evidence that these were the handiwork 
of Newton himself, and, even if they were, they occupy a 
space that might have been better utilized. 
Another excellent account of the Professor is given to¬ 
wards the end of the book by Dr. F. H. Guillemard, 
