6o PEOCEEDIKGS OF THE 



Vranclies, with a specinl leaning towards the study of bird and 

 insect life. He was fond of sport and exercise, an oarsman of 

 his time, and an expert carpenter, which latter qualification he 

 later turned to account, by the making of cabinets for his entomo- 

 logical collections to a novel design of his own, which has been 

 adopted elsewhere. Indeed, so strong was his constructive skill, 

 that, with an elder brother, he built two small steamers which 

 were bought for use on the rivers of India. 



On leaving Cambridge, Salvin joined Mr. (now Canon) Tristram 

 in the exploration of the NaturalHistory of Tunis and E. Algeria ; 

 and soon after his return he (in 1857) accompanied Skinner, the 

 famous Orchid collector, on a journey to Central America. ^ A 

 second trip to the same country was undertaken in the following 

 year, and, returning to England in 1860, he set out in the autumn 

 of 1861 tor the land destined to become the scene of his life's 

 work. This time he was accompanied by his old College friend, 

 E. Du Cane Godman ; and it was on the memorable tour ending in 

 January I860 that there was formed the nucleus of the collections 

 which tlirough the ' Biologia Centrali-Americana ' have rendered 

 the names of Grodman and Salvin talismanicin Zoological circles, 

 and have raised unto them a monument worthy the best 

 traditions of English explorers and men of science. Nor have 

 the botanical and archaeological aspects of this magnificent 

 undertaking been neglected. 



Salvin's love of birds and insects increased with years, and his 

 earliest papers show him to have been a keen observer from the 

 start, a ji^enuine enthusiast. As a collector he was unsurpassed. 

 Physical endurance and mental strain were no deterrents to his 

 enterprise, could he but extend the sum of knowledge. Altogether 

 delightful in person, noble and high-minded, be was conspicuous 

 by nothing more than his sympathy with the younger generation 

 of naturalists. To some of these his example and advice have 

 decided the turning-point in a career, and to those with whom 

 be was most intimate his memory will be venerated as that of a 

 true friend and a trusty guide. 



In 1874 Salvin accepted the newly -formed Strickland Curator- 

 ship of Ornithology in the University of Cambridge, which office 

 he held until his retirement into private lite some tight years later. 

 As a writer he was painstakingly accurate, though voluminous, 

 his published papers extending over a period of 42 years (1856- 

 1898). Of these a number were published in co-operation with 

 Mr. Godman, and a stili larger series with Dr. P. L. Sclater, with 

 whom he shares the honour of authority on South and Central 

 American Ornithology. The ' Exotic Ornithology ' and the 

 ' Nomenclator Avium Neotropicalium ' of these two authors rank 

 foremoijt among standard works of their kind, and the entomo- 

 logical writings of Godman and Salvin are nothing short of 

 monumental; while to have provided the material for the 'Biologia' 

 and inspired the working-out of so vast and marvellous a collec- 

 tion, is to have advai-ced Zoology in an altogether exemplary 



