and his Ornithological Work. 719 



tliis thirst for excitement in birds-nesting, trapping, or hand- 

 ling the forbidden gun are common more or less to all boys, 

 but young Boyd Alexander's devotion was more than these 

 and shewed itself in his precocious knowledge of such books 

 as White's " Selborne " and " Bewick," in the wonderful 

 neatness and method of the arrangement of his egg-collec- 

 tion, and in a systematic diary of the migrations and habits 

 of the birds in the neighbourhood of his home. 



At school he was not particularly fond of games, but, 

 although doubtless he employed many a trick to get off and 

 to range the country-side for birds' nests, he was by no means 

 unathletic or unmanly, for he represented Radley College 

 in the public schools boxing-competition the same year that 

 his twin brother, Robert, was her champion for gymnastics. 

 An incident of Alexander's boyhood is perhaps worth 

 relating as characteristic of the future explorer and ornitho- 

 logist, in that it shews in the boy those qualities of pluck 

 and devotion to a hobby which were such conspicuous features 

 in the nature of the man. He could not have been more 

 than eleven at the time when he and his two brothers had 

 come home for the holidays, and all, wild with the joy of 

 their first day of freedom, were scouring the place in an eagei 

 search for birds'-eo^s. Not much luck had attended their 

 efforts, though many risks of broken limbs had been taken, 

 until evidence of a swallows' nest was discovered inside the 

 roof of a disused barn. The door was locked, and how to 

 force an entrance was the problem still occupying the 

 energies of the brothers outside, when to their surprise an 

 exulting shout came from Boyd up in the roof, and to this 

 day it is not known how he had effected an entrance. But 

 his triumph was not destined to last long, for just as he had 

 reached his hand up into the nest to count the eggs, there 

 was a horrible crash among the rafters, quickly followed by 

 a sickening thud upon the ground. Then for a few moments, 

 that to the brothers outside seemed an age, there followed a 

 dead silence presently broken by moans. Frantically 

 they kicked at the door and tore at the boarding in order 

 to get to his rescue, but with no success, and to add to 



