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HENRY JOHN PEARSON. 



A MEMOIR 



BY 



COLOXEL H. W. FEILDEN. 



[Plate 9.] 



With deep regret we have to record the death of our 

 esteemed friend Henry John Pearson, which took place 

 at Assiut, Egypt, on February 8th. His remains were 

 buried in the EngHsh Cemetery at Cairo on February 9th, 

 1913. 



Henry Pearson was born at Chihvell in the county of 

 Nottingham on August 29th, 1850, the eldest son of 

 Mr. J. R. Pearson and Elizabeth his wife. From an 

 early age he took an interest in natural history and this 

 inclination, especially towards birds, began, as is so often 

 the case, in a boy's collection of their eggs. Entering 

 into business as quite a young man, his ability and energy 

 were crowned with success, but many ^^ears elapsed 

 before he could spare the time to indulge in extended 

 absences from home, and expeditions to the Arctic 

 Regions in pursuit of his beloved ornithological investi- 

 gations. Still in his short summer holidays spent in 

 Norway and elsewhere Ornithology was not forgotten, and 

 additions were made to his collection of eggs. His first 

 recorded trip was made in the summer of 1893, in com- 

 pany with his brother Charles and Mr. Edward Bidwell. 

 an account of which is published in the Ibis for 1894 

 as a " Birds' nesting excursion to the north of Norw^ay." 

 Their notes on the birds observed are interesting, and 

 the result of the expedition was the acquisition of eggs 

 of forty-seven species, taken by themselves. 



In 1894 with his brother Charles Pearson he visited 

 the southern Fiskevotn district of Iceland. The ornith- 

 ological results were published in a communication to the 

 Ibis, 1895. This paper contains some interesting field- 

 notes on the birds observed, especially in regard to the 

 nesting of the Harlequin-Duck. 



