Xll MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR. 



the "Birds of Norfolk." Added to this, Mr. Stevenson, although 

 the result was as a rule charming, was by no means a rapid writer, 

 ^nd his habit of verifying every fact for himself, or obtaining 

 his information where possible at first hand, rendered his progress 

 slow, and his first volume was so much delayed that its preface 

 was not dated till December, 1866. The second volume appeared 

 in September, ] 870, the article on the bustard alone having cost 

 &n amount of labour and research which is almost incredible to 

 those who have not engaged in similar investigations. From 

 that time the work proceeded still more slowly, ovsing to ill health 

 and other causes, which often necessitated its being laid aside 

 for considerable periods, but the articles lost none of their value 

 from delay, and I need but point to the account of the grey lag 

 goose, in fact those on all the geese, the mute swan, the sheld 

 •drake, and the shoveler duck, in the third volume, as models of 

 what such writing should be. The last article written by Mr. 

 Stevenson was on the gadwall, which, although finished and in 

 type, was never wholly printed ofi* ; the last portion, I beHeve, 

 going to press in 1877, and from that time the work was never 

 resumed. 



Mr. Stevenson left a mass of correspondence, and a large 

 number of note books commencing in 1850, and becoming about 

 1865 very voluminous. The last entry is dated June the 25th, 

 1888, within a few weeks of his death. 



I was abroad when I heard of that event, and therefore to 

 my lasting regret unable to join in paying a final tribute of 

 respect to one whose friendship I valued so highly, and whose 

 kindly nature, genial disposition, and modesty that was almost 

 excessive — added to rare talents and a constant readiness to im- 

 part his rich stores of information to fellow-workers — endeared 

 him not only to a large circle of personal friends, but also to 

 many others who knew him only as a valued correspondent, or as 

 the author of the " Birds of Norfolk." 



