XXXIV PEOCEEDINQS OF THE 



for many years been removed, he passed the entire remainder of 

 his life, — a life combining with the steady pursuit of business, an 

 eager relish for the pleasures of society and the sports of the field, 

 and an ardent attachment to zoological studies. It can hardly be 

 doubted that to his enthusiastic devotion to field sports he was 

 indebted for the first impulse which led to the fame and distinction 

 which he subsequently acquired as a naturalist. His rod and his 

 gun, in the use of both of which, but particularly of the latter, he 

 was a skilful adept, first made him intimately acquainted with the 

 habits and distinctions of the finny and feathered tribes, which in 

 after-life it became his favourite occupation to illustrate. I first 

 became acquainted with him through my brother in the year 1817, 

 long before any of us were connected with the Linnean Society. 

 At this time he had just become a Member of the Royal Insti- 

 tution, and his scientific studies were divided between chemistry 

 and natural history ; but he soon relinquished the former and gave 

 himself wholly to the pursuit of the latter. Por several years after- 

 wards he contented himself with the patient and laborious collection 

 of the large body of facts which he ultimately turned to so good an 

 account ; and it was not until 1825, when he was upwards of forty 

 years of age, that he published his first paper " On the Occurrence 

 of some Rare British Birds." This paper appeared in the 2nd 

 volume of the ' Zoological Journal,' of which he soon afterwards 

 became one of the editors. In the same year he was elected a 

 Fellow of the Linnean Society, and in February 1827 he commu- 

 nicated to us his " Observations on the TracheaB of Birds, with 

 Descriptions and Representations of several not hitherto figured," 

 which was published in the 15th volume of our * Transactions.* 

 In 1827 he also communicated to the Royal Society a paper " On 

 the Change of Plumage of some Hen-Pheasants," which is printed 

 in the volume of the * Philosophical Transactions ' for that year. 

 These papers were the precursors of a long series of memoirs and 

 of shorter communications, which have appeared from time to time 

 in the Linnean ' Transactions,' ' Proceedings,' and ' Journal ; ' in 

 the ' Transactions ' and ' Proceedings ' of the Zoological Society ; 

 in the * Reports of the British Association ; ' in the ' Zoological 

 Journal ; ' in the ' Annals and Magazine of Natural History ; ' in 

 the * Philosophical Magazine ; ' in the ' Entomological Magazine ; ' 

 and in the * Zoologist.' These publications, and the well-known 

 extent of his acquirements, soon made him known to a large circle 

 of zoological friends, to whom he freely contributed his ample 

 stores of knowledge. In 1825 he corresponded with Bewick, to 



