Miscella n eous. 131 



afterwards presented to the British Museum. He came to London 

 in 1863, and served with Messrs. W. H. Smith and then with 

 Bernard Quaritch, leaving the latter in 1867 to take the post of 

 Librarian to the Zoological Society, which he held until 1872. 

 During this period every hour which he could get for himself was 

 spent in the study of Birds and in makiug a private collection of 

 them. 



The ' Monograph of the Alcedinidae (Kingfishers),' published in 

 parts from 1868 to 1871, was a remarkable work to have been 

 accomplished by so young a man under such conditions. In tbe 

 preface he asked for some slight consideration " for an author who 

 commences so large an undertaking at the age of seventeen, and 

 who as he pens these last words has not attained to the age of 

 twenty-three." This was unnecessary, for the Monograph at once 

 established his reputation, and still remains a model which any 

 who project a monographic work may study with advantage. The 

 introductory chapters dealt with the relationship of the various 

 genera and species, their geographical distribution, &c, with a 

 chronological account of the literature. Then came a description 

 of the anatomy of the Kingfishers, written by Dr. Murie ; followed 

 by the systematic part, including full and careful descriptions of 

 each species, their habits and distribution, illustrated with 120 

 coloured plates. 



A ' History of the Birds of Europe ' had now been commenced 

 with Mr. H. E. Dresser, and the first parts appeared in 1871 ; 

 but in the following year Dr. Sharpe was appointed a Senior 

 Assistant in the British Museum, and left the completion of this 

 work to his collaborator, in order to devote himself to the task of 

 building up the national collection of Birds and writing a catalogue. 



How he succeeded is well known ; the collection increased in 

 number from about 30,000 to more than 400,000 specimens, and 

 this stupendous result was chiefly due to the personal qualities of 

 Dr. Sharpe himself. He started by presenting his own private 

 collection, he spent his vacations in collecting, and with his own 

 money he purchased desiderata, rather than allow the museum to 

 lose them. Moreover, he infected with his own enthusiasm most 

 of those with whom he came in contact, visitors to the museum, 

 travellers, collectors, 'and others ; and in consequence, as he has 

 often told the present writer, he never missed a collection that he 

 wanted. 



The 'Catalogue of Birds' took 24 years to finish, and ran to 

 27 volumes, 13 of which were written by Dr. Sharpe without 

 collaboration ; of these it may truly be said that they are the most 

 complete works of the kind that have ever been written ; in tact, 

 the keynote of Dr. Sharpe's work was thoroughness. 



The Catalogue was supplemented by a ' Nomenclator Avium, or 

 Hand-list of Birds,' in five volumes, the first of which was published 

 in 1899, whilst the last has only recently been issued. 



One of the most attractive features of the exhibition galleries of 

 the British Museum (Natural History) is the series of British Birds 



