1 rO Obituary. 



October 20tli, at the age of 72 years, after a long illness borne 

 with the greatest fortitude. 



The son of Alexander and Elizabeth Saunders, he was 

 bora in London on Sept. 16th, 1835, and received his early 

 education at Leatherhead and Rottingdean, subsequently to 

 which he entered the office of Anthony Gibbs & Sons, mer- 

 chants and bankers in the City. The foreign associations 

 of that well-known firm soon caused his thoughts to turn in 

 tlie direction of South America, and, being naturally of an 

 adventurous and energetic disposition, in 1855 he determined 

 to leave England, on a journey to Brazil and Chile. In 

 1856 he rounded Cape Horn on the way to Peru*, where 

 he resided continuously until 1860. That country offered 

 to an explorer, and particularly to an ornithologist, magni- 

 ficent opportunities of which Saunders was not slow to avail 

 himself, while, not content with these, he occupied his time 

 to a considerable extent Avith antiquarian researches in the 

 interior. On quitting Peru he crossed the Andes, struck 

 the head-waters of the Amazon, and descended that river to 

 Para, the journals kept during this notable expedition enabling 

 him in 1881 to contribute to ' The Field ' a series of articles 

 entitled " Across the Andes." The revolutionary spirit of 

 many towns in South America at that epoch constituted a 

 very serious danger, in addition to the usual risks of a wild 

 and little-known country, but Saunders's courage was by no 

 means the least characteristic of his qualities. 



In 1862 he returned to England, but only to devote most 

 of his time until 1868 to the investigation of the Avifauna 

 of Spain, a subject on which he soon became our recognised 

 authority. Articles from his pen referring to this part of 

 his career will be found in 'The Ibis' for 1869, 1871, 1872, 

 and 1878 ; while he wrote in a more popular style for ' The 

 Field' in 1874 his "Ornithological Rambles in Spain and 

 Majorca." In 1868 he married Emily, the daughter of 

 Mr. William Minshull Bigg, of Stratford Place, and took up 

 his residence in England; but he still found time to continue 



* His first contribution to ' The Ibis ' was on the Albatrosses noticed 

 on this voyage (• Ibis,' 1866, p. 124). 



