Obituary. 367 



delightful companion, either at home or in the field, it 

 would be difficult to find. 



" When I first knew him, many years ago, he was living 

 at Froyle House, near Alton, Hants, and I well remember 

 his excitement at seeing a female Cuckoo fly up from the 

 ground with an egg in her bill and make for a Pied Wag- 

 tail's nest built in the ivy on the house. A hasty journey 

 was made to inspect the Wagtail's nest, and there, sure 

 enough, besides the three eggs it was known to contain, 

 was a Cuckoo's egg still warm ! 



" For many years Reid was in the habit of making annual 

 expeditions in summer to the north of Scotland to obtain 

 nesting-groups of British birds for the series in the British 

 Museum, at first with the late Colonel L. H. Irby, and. then 

 for many successive years with Mr. Ogilvie-Graut. Thus 

 many groups of the most interesting species which are now 

 exhibited in the Bird Gallery were procured. Among the 

 more notable of these may be mentioned those of the 

 Snow-Bunting and Dotterel taken in the Cairngorms, when 

 Mr. r. D. God man rented Inchrory Forest from the late 

 Duke of Richmond. Reid and Grant always considered 

 that occasion as the red-letter day of their many expeditions, 

 the nests of both these special desiderata, each with a full 

 clutch of eggs, being discovered before 2 o'clock p.m. on the 

 first day of their visit. Reid was an artist of considerable 

 talent, and his excellent water-colour drawings and plans of 

 the various nests taken, greatly facilitated their subsequent 

 reproduction with their natural surroundings. 



" Always a keen gardener, when repeated attacks of 

 rheumatism rendered expeditions in the field more and more 

 difficult," Reid devoted most of his time to his garden at 

 " The Elms," Yalding, many of his rare plants, especially his 

 lilies, attracting special attention at the Horticultural 

 shows." 



