160 ORiGiXAL i\ie:\ibeks. 



to the course o£ study necessary for attainiu"- a physician's 

 degree, and with so mnch success that, during his last 

 session (1850-1), he was elected Senior President of the 

 Royal Medical Society — the highest mark of respect his 

 fellow-students conld bestow on hini ^'. The vacations, how- 

 ever, he devoted to what now became his main object — the 

 desire of forming an oological collection, all the specimens of 

 which should be thoronghly well authenticated, and by con- 

 sequence not only really serviceable to, but worthy of, a 

 study pertaining to the Exact Sciences. To gain this end, 

 no labour was too severe, no personal hardship too great for 

 him to undergo. 



Accordingly, the summer of 1848 found him visiting the 

 northern extremitj^ of our island, and he extended his 

 excursion to the Orkneys and Shetlands. This was probably 

 more with the intention of obtaining a personal know ledge 

 of the localities, to be made use of on a future occasion, than 

 with much expectation of then adding to his collection, for 

 the egging season was then already far advanced. The chief 

 capture on this tour Avas that of a pair of Sea- Eagles, w^hich 

 were transmitted to the residence of a relation at Matlock, 

 where subsequently a mass of rocks, perhaps in bygone 

 years tenanted by the other native species, was wired over, 

 and the plan of the cage thus formed, having been brought 

 to the knowledge of the Secretary of the Zoological Society, 

 sug-gested the first idea of the fine Eagle Aviarv which now 

 adorns the Gardens in the Regent's Park. 



Profiting by the knowledge he had gained the preceding 

 year, he started early in 1849 for the Nortli, and during a 

 journey throughout Caithness and Sutherlandshire, most of 

 Avliich was performed on foot, devoted himself to investi- 

 gating the habits of the larger birds of prey, which, as he 

 perceived, the combined efforts of sheep-farmers, game- 

 preservers, and so-called natural-history collectors were so 

 soon to render nearly extinct in that district. The principal 

 results of his experience on this and subsequent occasions 



* Kiiullv coramunicated to the writer by Professor Goodtiii-. 



