130 



oiuGiXAL :\ie>ibi:ks. 



buying foreign specimens at a shilling apiece whenever he 

 could get to London for a run among the IjircZ-shops. 



In December 18-19, he took the degree of Bachelor of 

 Arts, obtaining a first class in the mathematical school and 

 a *^pass " in classics. At that time these were the only two 

 recognised subjects for study in the University, no sort of 

 encouragement being given to Natural Science. After 

 taking Ids degree Sclater remained at his college in Oxford 

 for two years, devoting his time principally to Natural 

 History, and proceeded to the M.A. degree. He also gave 

 much attention to modern languages, studying them with 

 masters at home and always visiting the Continent in vacation- 

 time, and thus soon made himself familiar with French, 

 German, and Italian. 



At this period of his life he Avas often in Paris, studying 

 at the National Museum in the Jardin des Plantes. Here 

 he made the acquaintance of the great ornithologist. Prince 

 Charles Bonaparte, at whose house, in the Rue de Lille, 

 until the death of the Prince in 1858, he was a frequent 

 visitor. In 1851 he entered himself for the Bar, becoming 

 a student at Lincoln^s Inn and living in chambers at 

 49 Pall Mall, but occasionally visiting Oxford, and passing 

 his leisure time at Hoddington, always enthusiastically 

 engaged in natural history. The winter of 185.2-53 was 

 devoted to travel in Italy and Sicily. 



In December 1855, Sclater was admitted Fellow of Corpus 

 Christi College, Oxford, and, having in the previous June 

 completed his legal education and been called to the Bar 

 by the Honourable Society of Lincoln^s Inn, he went the 

 Western Circuit and continued to do so for several 

 years. 



In 1856 he made his first journey across the Atlantic, in 

 company with the Rev. George Hext, a fellow-collegian. 

 Leaving England in July, they went by New York up the 

 Hudson to Saratoga, and there attended the Meeting of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

 After that they went to Niagara, and thence through the 

 Great Lakes to Superior City, at the extreme end of Lake 



