Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/550

Rh

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 circulation 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 literature. 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 paragraph. When criticism is really intended it should not be invertebrate; 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 encyclopædic summary. 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,