MACGILLIVRAY AS ORNITHOLOGIST 131 
there is modern corroboration of this exceptional 
occurrence. In the case of the mountain hare, 
where, according to MacGillivray, the white winter 
hairs are due to fresh growth, the investigation of 
von Loewis leads to the conclusion that brown 
hairs may sometimes be changed in situ into white 
ones. But the merits of the particular case do not 
here greatly concern us, our point being merely to 
illustrate MacGillivray’s independence and care¬ 
fulness. 
The Ornithologist. 
In the history of British ornithology a very 
high place must be given to MacGillivray for three 
reasons—(1) because of his classification, which got 
below the often misleading resemblances in super¬ 
ficial appearance and habits to the affinities indicated 
by anatomical architecture; (2) because of the 
pattern of thoroughness which he set in his anatomi¬ 
cal investigations; and (3) because of the excellence 
of his observations on the life and habits of birds. 
We have already referred to two of these merits, 
but let us explain the importance of the first. 
Without going far into the discussion of a 
difficult and technical subject, we can perhaps best 
explain the importance of MacGillivray’s work in 
classification by noticing that the arrangements in 
vogue among British ornithologists about 1837, 
when the first volume of the History of British 
Birds appeared, were based for the most part on 
the characters of the bill, the legs, the toes, the 
