188 CONTRIBUTORS TO THE FIRST SERIES OF ^ THE IBIS.' 



in natural history, and his diary of his voyage in the 

 'Transit/ and of the following months of incessant marching 

 and fighting in India^ is interspersed everywhere witli 

 entries relating to the birds and other animals which he 

 had shot or seen. 



Lord Wolseley, in his ' Story of a Soldier's Life/ makes 

 frequent allusions to Irby's well-known tastes^ and describes 

 several amusing scenes which occurred. Thus, when on 

 board the * Transit/ Wolseley, who occupied a cabin along 

 with Irby, writes : " A few days after we left the Cape, I 

 remai'ked a horrible smell in our cabin, and upon snitfing 

 about I found it came from the skin of a Wild Cat carefully 

 pinned upon a board to dr3\ In my anger I threw it 

 overboard " 



Another entry is highly characteristic of Irby's ways. 

 Lord Wolseley, describing the life at the Alum Bagh, says : 

 ^^ There were some jeels where my old chum Irby, an 

 unerring shot, managed often to pick up a few Wild Duck. 

 He had a curious soldier-servant whom he had trained as a 

 retriever, and no matter how deep the water was where the 

 duck fell, he quickly brought it to his master." 



For his services in the Mutiny, Captain Irby received the 

 medal with two clasps and was granted " a Year's Service." 

 After the suppression of the Mutiny, he remained in India 

 until his return to England in September 1860. On June 

 2nd, 1864, he was promoted to be Major in the 90tli, and in 

 October 1864 he exchanged into the 74tli Highlanders. 

 In 1868 he proceeded with his new Regiment to Gibraltar, 

 and served there until February 4th, 1871, w^hen he accepted 

 promotion to a half-pay Lieut. -Colonelcy. Three years 

 later he retired from the Service. 



Irby's devotion to the study of Natural History never 

 failed him, even in the most adverse circumstances. Before 

 Sebastopol he managed in brief intervals when off duty to 

 shoot and skin a variety of birds at the head of Balaclava 

 Harbour and other localities within the extremely limited 

 region accessible to the British Army engaged in the siege. 

 Visitors to his house will recall, among these, a Great 



