386 NATURE-STUDY REVIEW 



He was appointed snow observer for the Federal Government 

 in 1907 and for many years past he has added to the scientific 

 data collected through many sources concerning the Rocky 

 Mountains. He gave many addresses and wrote many articles 

 urging protection to the birds, wild animals, flowers, trees and 

 scenery of this country, especially of the Rockies. He earned 

 well the title "the Father of The Rocky Mountain National 

 Park." His most recent and interesting enterprise was the pro- 

 moting of the use of Nature guides in all of our National Parks. 

 We have had several letters from him expressing his views con- 

 cerning this important movement. Mr. Mills did not marry 

 until he was forty-eight ; then he found a congenial companion in 

 the person of Esther A. Burnell. His death came as a shock to all 

 nature lovers many of whom like ourselves had long anticipated 

 visiting Long's Peak and meeting the man who had made us love 

 the mountain although we had never seen it. 



W. H. Hudson 



To those of us who have reveled in that remarkable work, The 

 Birds of LaPlata, or who have come to love Patagonia through 

 Idle Days, the news of W. H. Hudson's death seemed a catas- 

 trophe. This great naturalist has been known to the public only 

 through his books for he was so retiring and reserved that he never 

 gave lectures or became known personally to his large circle of 

 admirers. Since his death we have a record of one of his friends, 

 Mr. Richard Curie who has given us interesting side-lights upon 

 his character. Mr. Hudson wss essentially isolated in his re- 

 lation to Nature, for he seemed never to wish the companionship 

 of even his nearest friends on his walks or journeyings in the wilds. 

 He seemed to have no relatives and just a few choice friends among 

 the cultivated people, and these found him interesting and lovable. 

 When at home in England, he was in the habit of taking luncheon 

 once a week at the Mt. Blanc Restaurant with a few close friends 

 among whom were the novelists Joseph Conrad and Percival 

 Gibbon. These found him attractive though somewhat eccen- 

 tric. Curie says "One was always aware of a reserve that nothing 

 could pierce, a reserve embedded in the very construction of his 

 mind and founded upon a solitary and elf -like quality of his inner 

 nature." Curie also says "Books satisfied the mere rim of his 

 nature and his soul sickened and pined if long absent from its 



