ORIGINAL MEMBERS. 73 



Mr. KOBERT BIRKBECK. 



Robert Birkbeck was born at Keswick, Norfolk, on Octo- 

 ber 10th, 1836, and, on December 8th, 1857, married Mary- 

 Harriet, eldest daughter of Sir John William Lubbock, Bart. 

 In early life he took a considerable interest in Ornithology, 

 and was one of the first to join the ranks of the British 

 Ornithologists' Union, when that body was projected in 1858. 

 Since that date his name has always stood at the head of our 

 list of Founders, and now, in our year of Jubilee, we sincerely 

 congratulate him on being one of the five original Members 

 still in the land of the living, though he resigned in 1868. 

 His interest in Birds has, meanwhile, continued unabated, 

 and he has had every opportunity on his Inverness-shire estate 

 at Kinloch Hourn of studying their habits and protecting 

 the rarer species, in a manner worthy of the brother-in- 

 law of Lord Avebury and the uncle by marriage of Mr. J. 

 H. Gurney. 



Residing for a considerable portion of the year at 20 

 Berkeley Square, he is naturally a Fellow of the Zoological 

 Society of London, Avhich he joined in 1856. He is also 

 a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, Deputy-Lieutenant 

 and Justice of the Peace for Inverness-shire. 



He is deeply interested in horticulture, and the favoured 

 climate of the west coast of Scotland, much resembling that 

 of Cornwall, allows many tender exotics to flourish in his 

 gardens, which contain examples of over six hundred species 

 of trees and shrubs. 



SER. IX. VOL. II., JUB.-SUPPL. 



