NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOAV. IXXXV 



in the Grandholm mills, near Aberdeen, where he remained for 

 about two years. These years he regarded as one of the most 

 happy periods of his life. After his long day's work was done, 

 he was accustomed to explore the country for miles along Don- 

 side, examining with delight every living creature he could 

 capture. 



At the age of eleven, he was bound for six years as appren- 

 tice to an Aberdeen shoemaker named Beggs. Although a good 

 workman, Beggs was a man of dissipated habits and cruel 

 disposition ; and his strong dislike to Edward's pursuits induced 

 him to adopt towards the lad a strongly repressive and heartless 

 line of conduct. Stung by the cruelty and insult to which he 

 was exposed, Edward refused to continue in his service, and no 

 threats of legal proceedings for the breach of contract could 

 induce him to return to work. 



After an unsuccessful attempt to get away as a cabin boy, he 

 resumed work under a more considerate master. The difficulty 

 of obtaining adequate employment led him, at the age of seven- 

 teen, to make an unsuccessful attempt to get to America as a 

 " stowaway." After having enlisted in the Aberdeenshire militia, 

 he settled in Banff about 18:34. Thi-ee years later he married, 

 iilthough only in the recei])t of a wage of about 9s. Gd. per week. 



His Natural History collection had meanwhile been rapidU' 

 increasing, and in 1845 he exhibited it publicly in Banff. Having 

 obtained a small sum by the venture, he repeated the experiment 

 next year with still more satisfactory results ; and believing 

 that further success would attend him in Aberdeen, he rented 

 s, shop in Union Street, and removed his collection thither. 

 The venture proved an utter failure. In a fit of despair, induced 

 by the })rospect of impending ruin, he resolved to drown him- 

 self, and went to the n\outh of the Don to carry out his fatal 

 resolution. When on the sands his attention was arrested by 

 a bird of a species imknown to him ; and under the stimulus of 

 reviving interest, the dark cloud passed for ever from his mind. 

 Having sold his collection for £20 lOs., he once more removed 

 to Banff, where he resumed his old business of shoemaking, and 

 commenced to form a new collection. 



By a fall from a cliff at Tarlair, he sustained severe in- 

 juries, which rendered him unfit to work for several weeks, and 

 forced him to sell a portion of his new collection to obtain the 

 means of support for himself and family during this period. 

 Acting on the advice of the Rev. James Smith, Monquhitter, 

 who had been impressed with Edward's capacity for original 

 research, he commenced to send to the local newspapers an 

 account of his experiences. In 1851, Mr. Smith communicated 

 to the Zoologist a notice of some birds shot by Edward ; and 

 articles were afterwards contributed by the latter to the Zoologist, 

 Naturalist, and other scientific journals. 



