1T6 



THE OSPREY. 



ing or moralizing, lie can not help presenting 

 the m;nv vicissitudes which surround each 

 little bird, for instance, in the same chapter as 

 the last quoted from, we rind: 



"Still another was struck by a shot that fatal 

 day in the peanut Held, but had been able to 

 make its escape with the others. When cover 

 was reached it had picked the feathers mil of the 

 wound in its side and cleared away the blood, 

 doing the best it knew for its hurt. But the 

 heavy sickening pain in its body continued. 

 All day it crouched trembling or ran on after 

 the others when the dread of being left alone 

 came upon it. It tried to ease its pain by eating 

 certain berries or leaves which old Mother 

 Nature whispered in its ear might be good. 

 Through the long hours of that autumn day it 

 knew no joy, only sorrow was in its heart, and 

 a great fever was in its brain, and a swimming 

 dizziness in its eyes. At times it struck with 

 its beak hard and wantonly into the ground 

 where it la)', as if seeking a solace there. A 

 choking thirst almost stifled the piteous notes 

 of complaint which at times escaped. 



"As the evening came down the gathering 

 call of the familv sounded over in the field. 



The bird endeavored to rise, but the exertion 

 only resulted in spasms of pain and it lav hope- 

 lessly fanning the ground with its wings. Oh! 

 the agony of that day. and the hours yet to 

 follow! The dews of night, which soon began to 

 gather, revived the bird a little, but this only 

 made it more conscious of its sickness as the 

 hours of darkness wore on. There it la)' alone 

 beating out its life in the forest. There was no 

 sound save the sounds of the night, the singing 

 of the crickets in the grass, the croaking of the 

 frogs down in the swamps, and the distant bay- 

 ing of the farmer's dog". 



The book is well illustrated having a frontis- 

 piece in color of the Sparrow Hawk, and seven 

 other full page plates, together with seventy- 

 two text figures prepared by or under the direc- 

 tion of J. L. Kidgway. 



All in all. we believe it to be a most interest- 

 ing contribution which will find a wide circle of 

 friends. 



The frontispiece of this issue, is from a photo- 

 graph taken by Mr. Win. H. Fisher of Baltimore. 

 Md. The notes relating- to this nest were pub- 

 lished in October, 1899, (iv, No. 2).— Ed. 



WILLIAM SWAINSON AND HIS TIMES.— Continued from page 172. 



commissioned by the colonial government to 

 report on the forests and did make a report on 

 them. He also kept up his interest in concho- 

 logy and presented to a local society (Royal 

 Society of Van Diemen's Land) three papers on 

 the classification of shells. He appears, how- 

 ever, to have given up his correspondence with 

 other naturalists. At least no letters later than 

 1840 were in the collection recently acquired by 

 the Linnaean Society of London. 



Eventually, he returned to his former home 

 in New Zealand and there, in 1x55, (December 

 7th 1. gave up his struggles and his life. 



In addition to the volumes already mentioned 

 as published by Swainson, several others have 

 been named by Mr. Boulger in the biographical 

 sketch in the Dictionary of National Biograj by 

 (vol. 55. p. 193). These are "Observations on 

 the Climate of New Zealand, 1840. 8vo."; "The 

 Faculties of Birds. 1847"; and "The Domestic 

 Habits of Birds, 11. d." 



The "Observations on the Climate of New 

 Zealand" (1840) has been attributed to the 

 naturalist, in the sketch in the Proceedings of 

 the Linnaean Society as well as in the Diction- 

 ary of National Biography and various biblio- 

 graphies, but the same work has been attri- 

 buted also, in the same Dictionary and on the 

 next page (p. 194), to another and apparently 

 not nearly related William Swainson, the first 

 attorney general of New Zealand. The latter 

 was undoubtedly the author. The relationship 

 of the two Swainsons (if any) has not been 

 indicated. 



The other titles must be the result of some 

 mistake as they do not appear in the Biblio- 

 theca Zoologica of Carus and Engelmann. nor 

 in the Catalogues of the British Museum, 

 Zoological Society, or Linnaean Society of 

 London. They may indicate reprints of parts 

 of, or extracts from. Swainson's real works. 



Collections or parts of collections of more or 

 less importance made by Swainson still exist in 

 various museums. The last part, and appa- 

 rently supposed to be more complete than it ac- 

 tually proved to be, was purchased for the Uni- 

 versity of Cambridge, and "many of the speci- 

 mens are still preserved in the University 

 Museum." according to Professor Newton. A 

 small collection, it is said, chiefly of shells, had 

 previously been obtained for Manchester. 



Most of his drawings and manuscripts appear 

 to have been retained by Swainson. His subse- 

 quent hisses by shipwreck, too, must have been 

 less than reported at the time. At any rate, a 

 daughter returned to England with a collection 

 of 934 letters written by 236 correspondents, 

 covering the full period of his scientific activity 

 and extending from 1806 to 1840. These were 

 purchased in 1899 for the Linnaean Society of 

 London for ,/.5o and arranged by the president, 

 Dr. Albert C. L. G. Giinther, as has already 

 been noticed in the OSPREY (v, p. 13). 



It seems also, from a "Catalogue of the Colo- 

 nial Museum Library" of New Zealand (1900), 

 that the Library has note books of Swainson, 

 such being entered (p. 56) as "Swainson's Col- 

 lection, (two books of pencilled notes and figures 

 of fishes. 1" without any other data. 



The address of Doctor Giinther and his accotn- 

 panying "Catalogue of the Swainson corres- 

 pondence" has been very useful in the compila- 

 tion of the present "Life" and have been par- 

 tially corroborated by the present author. 

 During the forenoon of a day in July, 1901, 

 through the courtesy of the accomplished assis- 

 tant secretary, Mr. J. G. Harting, he was 

 allowed to freely consult the manuscripts and 

 utilize the information derived from them as 

 he would. 



THE EM'. 



