350 Obituary. [Ibis, 



collection of eggs taken by himself in the sierras and 

 lagunas of Andalucia. Of late years he had devoted liimself 

 to the exploration of the pala3olitliic caves and rock-paintings 

 of Andalucia, and was preparing a report on this subject in 

 collaboration with the well-known Abbe H. Breuil of the 

 Iiistitut de Paleontologie humaine in Paris. He also wrote 

 a good many books on military history, including 'The 

 Military Life of Field-Marshal H.R.H. the Duke of 

 Cambridge,' 1905, and the ' History of the Rifle Brigade/ 

 the first volume of which appeared in 1912, and the second 

 so lately as November of last year. 



Colonel Verner was a most versatile man. He was an 

 accomplished soldier, a good scholar both in the Portuguese 

 and Spanish languages, a writer of considerable literary 

 charm, an inventor, and an excellent field-naturalist and 

 sportsman. 



He married in 1881 the Hon. Elizabeth Mary Emily 

 Parnell, daughter of the third Baron Congleton, who survives 

 him togetlur with a daughter, the widow of Commander 

 Robert Jeffreys, R.N. His only son, Commander Rudolf 

 Verner, R.N., was killed during the war. 



Brigadier-General H. R. Kelham, C.B , has sent us the 

 following reminiscences of Colonel Verner: — 



" We first met as young subalterns at Gibraltar in 1875, 

 he being there at that time with his regiment, the Rifle 

 Brigade. In those happy days there were no shooting 

 restrictions in Spain ; as long sts you held a Government 

 Game Permit you could shoot where you liked, so many a 

 good day did we have ' between rivers,^ in the Cork Woods 

 or further afield at the Laguna de la Tanda and its snipe- 

 marshes, and well do I remember Verner's delight at our 

 discovering several Grey Phalarope [Phalaropus fidicarius) 

 on the edges of that lagoon. 



" His whole life was devoted to birds, even on active service 

 he was always on the look-out for a new bird, as may be seen 

 in his account of how he secured a nest of the Black and 

 Red Weaver-bird while under heavy fire during the Nile 

 Campaign. 



