HOWARD SAUNDERS. 199 



meeting of the British Ornithologists' Club the question 

 of the doijiestication of the African elephant was raised. 

 Authorities ancient and modern were learnedly adduced 

 on either side till Saunders clinched the matter by quoting 

 Polybius, chapter and verse, with the Carthaginian 

 general's report, ascribing his defeat by the Romans to 

 the Indian elephants employed by them and which were 

 larger than his own Lybian elephants. Nowadays there 

 are no Lybian elephants, and those elephants that survive 

 in Africa exceed in size the Indian species. Such instances 

 might be multiplied indefinite!}'. 



It is to such qualities, coupled with a whole-hearted 

 enthusiasm, that we are indebted for that splendid series 

 of works that he has left behind him. To me, who have 

 often had to refer to them, his exposition of the distribution 

 of Laridce and Larinoe {Proceedings Linnoean Society, etc.) is 

 nothing less than masterly ; and no less so his "Catalogue" 

 of the Gavire. Then, to quote but a few, there is the 

 fourth edition of "Yarrell," his own "Manual" in two 

 editions, and his twice-repeated editorship of the "Ibis," 

 in addition to the time and close attention devoted to the 

 many scientific societies of which he was a member — and 

 always a working member. But it is not for me to 

 recapitulate his manifold activities. 



Of field-sports, as such, our late friend was never really 

 enamoured. He enjoyed a ramble on moor or marsh, but 

 always with an eye as keen for any other interesting bird 

 as for the game. In September, 1889, when staying with 

 me for the meetings of the British Association at Newcastle, 

 we had some such days. Once, on coming over a ferny 

 ridge, we surprised a Blackcock that distinctly gave a low 

 " chuckle " as it flew. Saunders, who had just revised my 

 " Bird-life of the Borders," turned on me : " Why, you 

 said that bird never utters a sound except in spring ! " 

 Well, I never heard one do so before, and only twice or 

 thrice since, in eighteen years ! In 1897, we went to 

 Norway, together with the late Mrs. Saunders and their 

 two daughters, and a pleasanter trip I never enjoyed. We 



