X NESTS AND EGGS OF AUSTRALIAN BIRDS. 



manner Mr. Gould was always somewhat brusque, but tliosr who were 

 intimate with liim were aware that under a rougli exterior lie concealed 

 a vei-y kind heart." Another friend who knew him well, wrote : " He had 

 a really tender and affectionate heart, hidden though it was beneath a 

 highly sensitive rcsci-ve, which never permitted him the relief of expres- 

 sion. The deaths of his loving wife and two promising boys aflectcd 

 liim in a way hardly known outside his family circle." Another person 

 who used to work for him said Gould was " an extraordinary man ; blunt, 

 and somewhat of a gruff nature ; had great perseverance, and was always 

 at his workj wliich amomitcd to a passion, or to which he appeared a 

 willing martyr." We are not told what Gould's religious temperament 

 was, although he was styled " a true Priest of Natin-c." 



As a born ornithologist, Gould had few, if any, compeers, and no one 

 had a better " eye " for specific differences. As an author he was also 

 a giant, having published between 1829 and 1880 (the year of his death) 

 eighteen great illustrated folio works, besides no less than 302 separate 

 papers and articles contributed to various learned societies, &c. The 

 magnitude of his folio works may be imderstood by the 3,000 odd coloiu"ed 

 plates they contained (all birds except 227, wliich figured in his " Family 

 of Kangaroos " and the " Mammals of Australia "), and on account of 

 which he has sometimes been called the " Pictorial Ornithologist." He 

 himself loved to be called just plain " John Gould, the Bird Man. " 



Such was the man whom Australian ornithologists all but worship. 



Little seems to be known of the early history of John Gilbei-t. He 

 was apparently a taxidoi-mist in the employment of Gould, who sent him 

 as collector to Western Australia, August, 1840- He retm-ned to 

 England with his trophies, September, 1841. 



The ensuing spring Gilbert again visited Western Australia, and 

 afterwards Northern Territory at Port Essington. Subsequently he was 

 attached to Dr. Leichhardt's Exploring Expedition from Brisbane to Port 



V 



Essington, October, 1844, meeting his fate at the hands of treacherous 

 natives, 28tli June, 184^. The details of his tragic end I have given 

 under the heading of the Black-backed Tree Creeper (see Observations). 

 It appeared to me to be the most fitting place to recall the sad 

 circumstances, as that bird was probably the last he ever shot. 



Toucliing poor Gilbert's melancholy end, Gould pathetically wrote : 

 " I lost a most able coadjutor, and science has to deplore one of its most 

 devoted servants." What a tribute of praise from a master ! 



Ladies, by intuition, are generally good judges of character. 



