CONTllIBUTORS TO THE FIRST SERIES OF ^ THE IBIs/ 209 



Mr. G. C. TAYLOR. 



George Cavendish Taylor Avas tlic second son of the late 

 Mr. Frederick Farmer Taylor, of Chyknell, Salop, by a 

 grand-daughter of Charles Carroll of Carrolton, last survivor 

 of those who signed the Declaration of Independence of the 

 United States. He passed the first portion of his life as an 

 officer in the 95th Regiment, and served his country in the 

 Crimea and elsewhere ; after retiring from the army he 

 was in the Militia. He became a director of the London, 

 Chatham, and Dover Railway (1864-1889), while he was 

 also at one time a director of the Varna Railway, and was 

 interested in other commercial undertakings. 



Mr. Taylor was an ardent sportsman and an excellent 

 shot, and from early life was a collector of birds, more espe- 

 cially those killed by his own gun, and a skilful preparer of 

 their skins. 



In 1857-58 he visited Honduras in connexion with the 

 scheme then afloat for carrying an inter-oceanic railway 

 across that country. In company with the preliminary 

 surveying expedition for the proposed line, he crossed that 

 Republic from Fonseca Bay to Omoa, and made a considerable 

 collection of birds, of which he subsequently published an 

 account in this Journal. He was one of the early members 

 of the British Ornithologists' Union, and was an intimate 

 friend of many who belonged to it. 



In 1861 Mr. Taylor made an expedition to Florida, of 

 which also an account was given to the readers of ' The Ibis.' 

 In 1872 he contril)uted to our Journal an account of his 

 observations in the Crimea, Turkey, the Sea of Azov, and 

 Crete duriug the years 1854-55. One of the specialities of 

 his private collection of birds was a series of Ruffs {Machetes 

 pugnax), illustrative of the highly variable plumage of the 



