INTRODUCTION. xvii 



enabled him to excel as much in wood carving ■ as in painting, 

 and on the few occasions that his productions were exhibited in 

 public they received suitable recognition. Thus, when he was 

 quite young, he won the first prize, a handsome silver medal, from 

 the Devonport Mechanics' Institute for his water colour drawings, 

 and another first class medal from the Royal Cornwall Polytechnic 

 Society in 1862, which awarded him another first class silver 

 medal for his drawings of birds from Hfe, in 1884, together with a 

 certificate of merit for his wood carvings. He also carried off a 

 first class silver medal for his wood carvings at the Exhibition of 

 Art, Science and Manufactures at Devonport in 1869. But the 

 outdoor study of wild birds was his first love and continued to 

 occupy his attention up to the very close of his life. His careful 

 attention to the notes of birds, and pertinacity in following up 

 all doubtful specimens, resulted in his adding many species to the 

 Devon List, among others the Water Pipit, the Scandinavian form 

 of the Rock Pipit, the Blue-headed Wagtail, Kentish Plover and 

 Rednecked Phalarope. Perhaps his greatest triumph in personally 

 detecting rare birds occurred in 1858, when he fell in with a 

 pair of Alpine Accentors on the cliffs near Plymouth, and after a 

 search of three weeks secured both specimens of this scarce and 

 interesting bird. But he never lost an opportunity of examining 

 the specimens sent to the local birdstufi'ers, and was thus 

 instrumental in rescuing tlie Lesser Grey Shrike, the King Eider 

 and some other birds from obHvion. How persistently he studied 

 the arrival of species, even those that were well known, will be 

 understood by any one who considers the trouble involved in 

 making such observations as those which the Editor has collated 

 from Gatcombe's papers in the articles on the Black Redstart, 

 Grey Phalarope, Great Northern Diver, and Greater Shearwater. 

 While thus intent upon studying birds, he was wiUing to advance 

 the cause of all other branches of Natural History. He did not 

 shrink from recording even a rare crustacean, while strange fishes 

 and cetaceans were sure to receive proper recognition at his hands. 

 Among the Cetaceans identified by Gatcombe, as taken on the 



