Birds. 421 



McConnell (F. V.) and Quelch (J. J.). 



546 birds from British Guiana. Presented. [95. 11. 28, 1-420; 

 97. 4. 6, 1-8; 98. 11. 21, 1-118.] 



This fine collection was made in the neighbourhood of Georgetown, 

 Demerara, on the Essequibo River, and in the inland Savana country. It 

 contained several interesting forms in spirits, such as Heliornis, etc., and 

 a good representative set of the low-country birds. 



McCormick {Dr. Robert). 



142 birds and eggs from the Falkland Islands and the Antarctic Seas. 

 Bequeathed. [90. 12. 13, 1-77; 91. 2. 15, 1-11 ; 91. 6. 16, 1-54.] 



One morning in the year 1884, several of the officers of the Natural 

 History Museum were surprised at the sight of a little old man ascending 

 with quite an elastic step the staircase of the upper floor of the Museum 

 and disappearing into the Botanical Department. He belonged evidently 

 to a by-gone age. A rather broad-brimmed hat covered a very evident 

 wig, his neck was encircled by a high stock, his waistcoat was white and 

 very low, exposing a wide front of flannel shirt of the hues of a Scotch 

 plaid. His swallow-tail coat was of a dark blue with gilt buttons, and 

 his trousers were of a pronounced shepherd's plaid. I was telling some 

 of my colleagues afterwards of the wonderful appearance of the old 

 gentleman I had seen, when a knock came at my door, and on opening 

 it, I found myself face to face with the individual in question. On his 

 introducing himself as Dr. McCormick, I could not repress my astonish- 

 ment and told him that I thought he had been dead years ago. " Yes," 

 he replied, " I know I ought to have been, but I am not. I am eighty- 

 four years of age, and I thought, before I died, I should like to see some 

 of the animals I shot when I was naturalist to the Erebus and Terror, 

 as I am writing my memoirs." This book appeared shortly after his visit. 

 I conducted the old veteran round the Bird-Gallery, where he recounted 

 how he had shot the Emperor Penguins (Aptenodytes forsteri) in the 

 Antarctic Ice-Pack with a rifle. The old gentleman did not manage to 

 visit the Museum again, but I used often to go and see him at his home, 

 Hecla Villa, Wimbledon, and I hope that I helped to cheer his last days, 

 when he was wonderfully interested in the tame white Duck which he 

 has immortalised in his book. At his death, as a votive oftering to me, he 

 bequeathed his natural-history specimens to the Museum. They consisted 

 of certain duplicates from the Antarctic exiaedition, which he had been 

 permitted to retain, but they had been sadly neglected for many years 

 and were nearly all moth-eaten. I was, however, able to keep a few 

 for the Museum. One of the most notable facts in connection witli 

 Dr. McCormick's specimens was that they were carefully labelled with 

 the date of capture, etc., but these particulars were seldom preserved by 

 the Museum authorities at the time. 



During the Antarctic expedition, some specimens of a Great Skua 

 {Megalestris) were discovered, and these ultimately turned out to belong 

 to an undescribed species, which was named Megalestris maccormicki 

 by Mr. Howard Saunders (Cat. B., xxv., p. 321, pi. i.). Many 

 excellent notes on the habits of Antarctic birds from Dr. McCormick's 

 pen have been published by Gould, and it seems somewhat sad that this 

 old hero should have been allowed to pass to his grave comparatively 

 forgotten by his country, for which he had done such sterling work. 

 His book, which appeared in 1884, bore the following title : " Voyages of 

 Discovery in the Arctic and the Antarctic Seas and round the World, 

 being personal narratives of attempts to reach the North and South Poles, 



