( 306 ) 

 A STUDENT OF GULLS. 



(Plates 18 and 19.) 



That Ornithology sustained a heavy potential loss by 

 the death of Ewen Kennedy, in 1909, at the early age 

 of twenty-eight, is evident by a perusal of his notes, 

 put together in beautiful form* by the loving hand of 

 his sister, Mrs. Macdonald. 



Beyond a charming " foreword," Mrs. Macdonald lets 

 her brother reveal himself — his enthusiasm and perse- 

 verance — by his own notes, diaries, and letters. Ewen 

 Kennedy was a born naturalist, and the diaries and 

 letters of his schoolboy days are truly delightful reading, 

 especially those from Loretto, where he collects every 

 sort of Natural History object and spends his pocket- 

 money on cases to keep them in and magazines and 

 books from Avhich to learn about them. Really splendid 

 schoolboy adventures are a raid at night with another 

 boy to a lake Avhere a Canada Goose was robbed of her 

 eggs (" worth 30s. each " !), and similar daring night- 

 expeditions Avith other adventurous souls to the Bass 

 Rock and back again without its being found out ! 

 After school he enters his father's firm, spending all 

 his spare time on Natural History and photography, 

 and making holiday trips to Sutherland, Shetland, and 

 elsewhere. Subsequently he takes to farming, and 

 about this period commences to study British Gulls as 

 a speciality. Unfortunately this investigation, which 

 was carried on for some years in a very thorough way, 

 was brought to an end by his taking up a post in a 

 nitrate company in Chili, where he subsequently died 

 of typhoid. 



The second part of this book, containing Kennedy's 

 notes on the moults and plumages of the Herring, Great 



* Life and Natural History Notes of Ewen Kennedy, edited by his 

 sister May. Edinburgh : Privately printed at the Ballantyne Press, 

 1913. 12 X 8^. Edition limited to seventy-five numbered copies. 

 Photogravure portrait, ten coloured, and many black-and-white 

 plates. Pp. i.-xv., 1-211. 



