ORIGINAL MEMBERS. 151 



Mr. E. C. TAYLOR. 



Edward Cavendish Taylor, one of the original members of 

 the British Ornithologists' Union, was born on the 20th 

 of January, 1831, the third and youngest son of Frederic 

 Farmer Taylor, of Chyknell in the county of Salop, by his 

 marriage with Juliana, daughter of the second Lord Water- 

 park. He was educated at Rugby and Cambridge, and, after 

 the usual course of theological study, took Holy Orders in 

 tlie Church of England, and served as curate in several 

 places, amongst which was Long Compton in Warwickshire, 

 But Taylor was not thoroughly devoted to his profession, 

 and when, in 1870, the Act was passed enabling clergymen 

 of the Church of England to give up their Orders, he took 

 early advantage of it and retired into lay life and the study 

 of birds, in which he had taken a great interest from his 

 early youth. Taylor was a very accurate and painstaking 

 observer, besides making excellent skins, and was a constant 

 traveller. In the winter of 1853 he visited Egypt, and 

 ascended the Nile up to the first Cataract, making a good 

 collection of birds en route. In 1858, when this Union was 

 founded he became one of its original members, and, though 

 he was not present at the meeting at Cambridge in November, 

 1858, when 'The Ibis^ was founded, he contributed an 

 excellent article to the first number of that Journal, which 

 Avas published in January 1859. 



Early in 1859 Taylor left England on an expedition to 

 Tunis and Algeria, in company with Sclater and two other 

 friends. The main object of the party was to visit the 

 breeding-sites of the Vultures and Eagles in those countries, 

 which had been so successfully explored by Salvin and 

 Tristram in 1857, as is recorded in the first volume of this 

 Journal. No opportunity was lost by Taylor of adding to 

 his cabinet of birds during this expedition. His next long 

 journey was of a more adventurous character. Leaving 



