THE OSPREY. 



107 



rigfht. He appreciated just treatment and fair 

 dealing", and met such with a proper spirit. His 

 long" and uninterrupted friendly relations with 

 his publishers, and with Richardson are sufB- 

 cient evidence of this. He had what is generally 

 known. as "a good eye", and could appreciate 

 g"eneric and specific characters in groups with 

 which he was familiar fairly well. He had a 

 nicely developed artistic sense, and often sought 

 relief in his pencil and brush from his pen. 

 He exercised a judicious criticism of his own 

 drawing's as well as of those of others. More- 

 over, he was gifted with the genius of method- 

 ical industry. His long list of works attests to 

 this. In the various fields in which he wan- 

 dered, he did not allow taxonomic rocks to delay 

 . his progress: he was content to skip over them — 

 when he noticed them. In fine, he would have 

 secured a much higher regard in scientific lite- 

 rature had he not been aftiicted so severely with 

 a monomania — quinarianism. Notwithstand- 

 ing, as an ornithologist he must ever be con- 

 ceded a high rank among" those of his time. 



Swainson's youth. 



Swainson "showed not the least aptitude for 

 the ordinary acquirements of schools". Conse- 

 quently he was allowed to leave school and his 

 "education, in fact, from unavoidable circum- 

 stances, was left unfinished." At the age of 

 fourteen he "was appointed junior clerk in the 

 Secretarj^'s office" of the custom-house of Liver- 

 pool, his father holding- the position of Secretary, 

 and with his appointment was "a salary of 80 tt^ 

 [nearly 400 dollars] a 3'ear." Although he had 

 thus "entered public life" with "prospects of 

 rapid advancement which might well be envied," 

 he "had not the least inclination to pursue them. 

 He was, notwithstanding all. "wayward and 

 unhappy." His inclinations led him and direc- 

 ted him away from his duties and business and 

 developed into a desire for rambles in the coun- 

 try and for collecting- objects of natural history. 

 His "father had a collection of British inseccs 

 and shells, and these had given" him "not 

 merel}' a taste, but a passion, for natural history 

 even when a mere child, and every moment" he 

 "could command was divided between drawing 

 and collecting." It was in vain that his 

 "parents endeavoured to repress this ardour, and 

 to make these tastes subordinate; their judicious 

 restraints only increased the evil: sleeping or 

 waking", his thoughts were constantlj' bent on 

 how he "could get abroad, and revel in the 

 zoology of the tropics." His imagination was 

 especially excited by the perusal of Smeathnian's 

 notes on the Insects of Africa in Drury's Illustra- 

 tions of Entomology. He thought that "no 

 earthly happiness could be greater than visiting 

 Sierra Leone, and capturing thousands of butter- 

 flies; or going out to some distant country, even 

 to collect for others. With such wild and uncon- 

 trolled ideas, it cannot be supposed," he admits, 

 that his "official duties were performed as they 

 should have been." A position more conso- 

 nant with his predilections was sought for. 

 The struggle of Britain with Napoleon was 

 then raging and a position in the army was not 

 difficult to be secured. The elder Swainson was 

 well acquainted with the Commissary General 



(Wood) who "was about proceeding to join the 

 Mediterranean arm^'", and through his interven- 

 tion the 3'oung man was "placed on that 

 establishment by a Treasury minute". His 

 "situation in the customs" was consequently 

 "resigned". He was then in his eighteenth 

 3'ear. 



SWAINSOX IX SICILY, ETC. 



Soon after his appointment Swainson "sailed 

 for the Mediterranean, in the suite of the Com- 

 missary General," and first stopped at Malta. 

 After "a short stay" there, they "proceded to 

 Sicily in the spring of 1807. Most of his time, 

 for eight years, was destined to be spent in that 

 island. The British army then merely garri- 

 soned the island, "without undertaking anj- 

 very decided operations against the French, 

 who were in possession of all Calabria. Hence", 

 he says, "our duties were comparatively light; 

 we lived in comfortable quarters, and enjoyed 

 much leisure: this continued with very little in- 

 termission for several years, during; which I 

 alternately invtst'g-ated the zoolog3' and botany 

 of that charming island." Charming though it 

 was, it was not all he looked for: his "expecta- 

 tions of Sicily, as a field for zoological research, 

 had been somewhat disappointed: it is a per- 



■ fectly woodless country, and almost destitute of 

 permanent rivers. " He nevertheless found it a 

 pleasant country- for exploration and took many 

 long jaunts. He was especialU- struck by the 

 many lizards which "on a fine sunn^' da3' maj' 

 be seen in a single walk, basking on the stones 

 and walls, or pursuing their search after insects. 

 These lizards (the species was Lacerta agilis) 

 were "particularly numerous, and very beau- 

 tiful. The habit they have of turning the head 

 on one side, and some vague recollection of a 

 story in the Arabian Nights, about an attentive 

 lizard, first induced us", saj's Swainson, "to try 

 what effect the humming- of a song would have 

 upon those creatures, and it was really most en- 

 tertaining. The little reptile, instead of run- 

 ning awaj' with its usual swiftness, would re- 

 main perfectly still, inclining its head on one 

 side, as if to drink in everA' intonation. The 

 softer and more plaintive was the tune, the more 

 intense was the attention it evinced; and if a 

 whistle was substituted for a hum, it would 

 suffer itself to be approached so near that 2i\\y 

 one unacquainted with its astonishing swiftness 

 would fancy he could capture it with his hand. 

 This curious fact, once discovered, often proved 

 a source of much amusement. Often, after a 

 long ramble, spent in sketching or botanising," 

 sa^'s Swainson, "we used to repose in a shady 

 spot, among the rocks, and charm these pretty' 

 little creatures so successfully, that we have 

 known them even to come out of their holes, and 

 thus form a little audience. On such occasions, 

 the^' sometimes stand remarkably upright upon 

 their fore legs, the hinder ones lying almost fiat 

 upon the ground; the same attitude they also 

 assume when reconnoitring; but then the head is 

 never turned on one side, as if for the purpose 



of accurately hearing." Swainson concludes, 

 "every one is aware that this [fondness for 



tunes] is equally evinced by birds; but we be- 



