1 76 Memoir of the late John Wolley. 



History Section of the British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science at their meeting in Edinburgh the following year, 

 and the paper will be found printed in full in Sir William Jar- 

 dine's ' Contributions to Ornithology for 1850.' k.i the next 

 Cambridge Commencement, Jvdy 1850, he proceeded to the 

 degree of M.A., and at the close of the winter session 1850-1, 

 he quitted Edinburgh. 



After another expedition to the Highlands, in the course of 

 which he became acquainted with some Eagle localities in Argyll- 

 shire and Perthshire of remarkable interest, he again took up 

 his abode in London, and continued to reside there until the 

 spring of 1853. During all this time he was thoroughly de- 

 voted to the object he had most at heart, and while by no means 

 unmindful of his former literary researches, in which he now 

 comprised much investigation relative to a species probably 

 nearly extinct, the Great Auk, he took especial care to extend 

 his acquaintance among other naturalists, with whom his pecu- 

 liarly quiet manner and unassuming demeanour speedily ren- 

 dered him deservedly popular *. 



At length, in the spring of 1853, Wolley was enabled to put in 

 execution a plan the idea of which had for several years haunted 

 him, and to make an excursion of far greater extent than any he 

 had hitherto accomplished. Not only had he from his boyhood 

 rejoiced in the thought of one day visiting the land of Gyrfalcons 

 and Capercaillies, Bears and Wolves, but, of late, the very un- 

 satisfactory nature of our knowledge respecting the nidification of 

 various birds, among which were some of our commonest winter 

 visitants, had been constantly present to his mind. English 

 oologists had more than twenty years before visited Iceland 

 and the coast-region of Norway, making discoveries of remark- 

 able interest ; it was therefore but reasonable to suppose that 

 some sort of similar success would attend investigations carried 

 on in still more northern latitudes. The pages of Mr. Yarrell's 



* The writer may perhaps be excused for mentioning here, that it was in 

 October 1851 that he first became personally acquainted with Mr. Wolley. 

 For some years previously they had carried on a pretty frequent corre- 

 spondence on natural-history subjects, and this now led to a closer intimacy, 

 resulting in a friendship which continued to the last. 



