( '34 ) 

 ROBERT SERVICE. 



B. 23rd may, 1854. D. 8th MAY, 1911. 



[Plate I.] 



By the death of Robert Service, Scotland loses one of 

 her most zealous and able field-naturalists. 



It will ever be a matter of regret that he was not given 

 health and length of life to accomplish his dearest wish — 

 the wTiting of a book on the fauna of the Solwa}- area. 

 It is certain that no one could have been better fitted 

 for this task, either by local observations or general 

 knowledge, as is abundantly proved by his contributions 

 to scientific literature. I have compiled a list of upwards 

 of two hundred papers and notes from his pen, which 

 appeared from time to time in the Scottish Naturalist, the 

 Entomologist, the Zoologist, the Transactions of the 

 Dimifriesshire and Galloivay Natural History and 

 Antiquarian Society, and in other similar publications. 

 These papers are not confined to one or two branches of 

 science, for he was a lover and an admirer, just as much 

 as a student, of Nature in all her ways. The exigencies 

 of business, however, gave him too little time for the 

 arduous task of wTiting for the Press, and it is to be 

 regretted that with him must have perished many results 

 of mature thought and hardly-gained experience. 



Scientists, such as Alfred Newton, H. A. Macpherson, 

 Howard Saunders, Major Barrett-Hamilton, Professor 

 G. F. Scott-Elliot, Messrs. W. Eagle Clarke, and J. A. 

 Harvie-Bro\Mi, were among his constant correspondents ; 

 but the fact that he was universally recognised as the 

 authorit}^ on local zoology, never made him speak or write 

 in a high handed or arbitrary manner. He was ever 

 ready to impart information to all inquirers, and his 

 criticism of others was never caustic. 



Personalty, I owe him a debt of gratitude for his sincere 

 assistance to me when writing my Birds of Dumfriesshire. 

 In the Preface, when thanking my numerous corre- 



