2 THE ODYSSEY OF AN ANIMAL COLLECTOR 
tom in those days and not merely a stroke of good fortune, it is 
hardly worth dwelling on. The event of note was the family dip. 
The technique for the ladies was to wade through shallow water 
to a bathing hut on wheels when the tide was coming in. By the 
time they had disrobed and then got into all the garments deemed 
necessary for the function of wetting the body, the sea had risen 
sufhciently for them to descend the steps and crouch in about 
three feet of water. We were then treated to distant views of 
mother and various aunts garbed in fantastic knickerbockers 
(showing quite a bit of leg below the knee) and frilly bathing 
caps. The overclad water-nymphs then clung to a rope and bobbed 
up and down in daredevil fashion. 
My schooldays came to an end in the spring of 1911. Unfortu- 
nately, or perhaps fortunately, I was not qualified to do anything 
in particular; no special studies had been undertaken as no one 
had any ideas as to my career. ; 
Mathematics, science, and Latin were the only subjects at which 
I shone at school and were hardly helpful to a young lad seeking 
an open-air life. The outlook might have been grim had it not 
been for the fact that my father, although a City man and mem- 
ber of the London Stock Exchange, had his heart in the country. 
He rented a small country estate whenever he could afford to do so 
and from there went daily to London. When I left school we were 
living on a small estate in Essex near Hainault Forest. My brother 
Leslie had already started poultry-farming at home and it was 
agreed that I should join him. 
We went in for exhibition as well as utility poultry and quickly 
had a number of successes showing Buff Orpingtons. The prepara- 
tion of birds for shows was quite an art in itself; the exhibits had 
to be perfectly tame and sheltered from the sun and rain for 
weeks beforehand, then came the final washing and brightening 
up of comb, wattles, and legs. | 
In my spare time I drove my father to the station in a pony 
trap and met him at night, looked after and milked two Jersey 
cows, and kept an eye on a small flock of sheep which occasion- 
ally had to be treated for foot-rot. 
My experience with poultry was fairly extensive as we kept a 
number of. pure-bred varieties and hatched hundreds of chicks 
