2 Elliot, In Memorimn: Philip Lutley Sclater. [jan. 



commanding position, whose name was known wherever in the 

 world the study of ornithology held a place, and whose labors were 

 persistent and never ceasing over a period longer than that allotted 

 to the majority of mankind, and Philip Lutley Sclater has long 

 been recognized as one of the great leaders and exponents of our 

 science. 



He was born on the 4th of November, 1829, at Tangier Park, in 

 Hampshire, the country residence of his father, William Lutley 

 Sclater, Esq., and his boyhood was passed at "Haddington House," 

 another of his father's estates, and there, in the celebrated locality 

 sacred to the memory of Gilbert White of Selborne, he fostered 

 his taste, and love for the study of birds. I say fostered intention- 

 ally, for I believe an ornithologist or naturalist, like the poet, must 

 be born and not made, and if he has not the " Divine Afflatus," his 

 labors will be but fitful, lacking the soul, and his spasmodic efforts 

 will come to naught. But our friend was born to the 'Purple,' 

 his lineage was true, and in the pursuit of his loved birds, he gave 

 action and expression to the spirit that was in him. 



At ten years of age he was sent to a famous school at Twyford 

 near Winchester and when thirteen years old he went to Winchester 

 College and three years later became a scholar of Corpus Christi 

 College, Oxford, but being under age he did not become a resident 

 at the University until 1846. At that time Strickland was a reader 

 in geology at the University and he was Sclater's instructor in 

 scientific ornithology, and here he began his collection of bird skins, 

 at first confining himself to those species found in the British Isles. 



In 1849 he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and he con- 

 tinued for two more years at the University devoting himself to the 

 study of natural history and modern languages, and became 

 familiar with French, German and Italian. In 1851, he began the 

 study of law, and became a student of Lincoln's Inn, and in 1855 

 he was admitted a Fellow of Corpus Christi College, and was also 

 called to the bar, and followed the Western Circuit for several 

 years. 



In 1856 he made his first visit to America, going west as far as 

 Lake Superior and the upper waters of the St. Croix, which river 

 he descended in a canoe to the Mississippi, and later published an 

 account of his journey in the third volume of " Illustrated Travels." 



