Obituary. 55 



in EiiCTland and abroad, but by many a London scienlific 

 society. Noted as a traveller and an ornitbologist be was a 

 conspiciTous figure among the zoologists of the Metropolis, 

 and his writings, marked as they were by exceptional care 

 and accuracy, will serve as a model for many future 

 generations. He spared no pains to make his own work as 

 perfect as possible, and was never known to refuse his aid, 

 in the interests of science, to those occupied in similar 

 pursuits, while his various activities were only terminated 

 by . his death, which occurred at his London residence, 

 7 Radnor Place, W., on October 20th, at the age of 72 years, 

 after a long illness borne with the greatest fortitude. 



" The son of Alexander and Elizabeth Saunders, he was 

 born in London on Sept. 16th, 181^5, and received his early 

 education at Leatherhead and Eottingdean, 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 thoughis to turn in 

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

 adventurous and energetic disposition, in 1855 he deternn'ned 

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

 1856 he rounded ('ape 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 

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

 to a considerable extent with 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. 



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

 on this voyage (' Ibis,' 180(5, p. 124) ." 



