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Applegirth, but the heir of a family much more ancient than the 

 Baronetcy, which was created in 1762. He was the son of the 

 fifth Baronet, to whom he succeeded in 1821, by the daughter of 

 Mr. Thomas Maule, the representative of the Earls of Panmure. 

 He was born in Edinburgh in 1800, and was educated at the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh. Early in life he evinced a decided taste for 

 scientific pursuits, especially for natural history in all its varied 

 branches ; and this taste was maintained to the close of an active 

 and energetic life. He was a good botanist and geologist ; but 

 his chief strength lay in his knowledge of animals, and especially 

 of birds. He was a keen sportsman, and most of his information 

 was acquired in the field and by the river-side ; for the sportsman 

 was always subsidiary to the naturalist. The labours of the 

 deceased baronet extend over nearly half a century. In 1825 he 

 commenced, in conjunction with the late Mr. Selby, of Twizell, the 

 publication of the ' Hlustrations of Ornithology,' which seems to 

 have been his earliest contribution to natural history, and almost 

 immediately became recognized as one of the leading zoologists 

 in Scotland, if not in the United Kingdom. In 1833 he under- 

 took a still more important work, ' The Naturalist's Library,' 

 forty volumes of which appeared in the course of the next ten years, 

 and served to popularize in a most remarkable manner zoological 

 knowledge among classes to whom it had hitherto been forbidden 

 through the high price of illustrated works. With this publica- 

 tion, though its value may have been impaired by the progress of 

 science. Sir "William's name will always be identified ; for, having 

 as contributors Selby, Swainson, Hamilton Smith, Eobert Schom- 

 burgk, Duncan, William Macgillivray, and others, he was yet not 

 only the author of a large proportion of the volumes, but to each 

 he prefixed the life of some distinguished naturalist. His labours 

 are too extensive to speak of in detail : it is sufficient to notice 

 his excellent edition of Alexander Wilson's 'American Ornitho- 

 logy,' the establishment of the ' Magazine of Zoology and Botany ' 

 (afterwards merged in the 'Annals of Natural History '), and of 

 the ' Contributions to Ornithology.' Sir William's expedition 

 with his friend Selby, in 1834, to Sutherlandshire, a country then 

 less known to naturalists than Lapland, gave a great impulse to 

 the study of the British fauna and flora, and almost marks an 

 epoch in the history of biology in this island. Though orni- 

 thology was his favourite pursuit throughout life. Sir William 

 was not merely an ornithologist — other classes of the animal 

 LINN. PROC. — Session 1874-75. / 



