230 Obituary Notice. [,sf Xprii 



and, having in the previous June been called to the Bar, went on 

 the Western Circuit for several years. 



" In 1856 he made his first journey across the Atlantic, in 

 company with the Rev. George Hext, a fellow Oxonian. Leaving 

 England in July, they went by New York up the Hudson to 

 Saratoga, and there attended the meeting of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science. After that they 

 went to Niagara, and thence through the Great Lakes to Superior 

 City, at the extreme end of Lake Superior. Here they engaged 

 two Canadian ' voyageurs,' and travelled on foot through the 

 backwoods to the upper waters of the St. Croix River. This they 

 descended in a birch-bark canoe to the Mississippi. Sclater sub- 

 sequently published an account of this journey in the third volume 

 of ' Illustrated Travels.' Returning by steamboat and railway 

 to Philadelphia, he spent a month studying the splendid collection 

 of birds belonging to the Academy of Natural Sciences in that 

 city, where he formed the acquaintance of John Cassin, Joseph 

 Leidy, John Le Conte, and other then well-known members of 

 that Society. He returned to England shortly before Christmas, 

 1856. For some years after this he lived in London, practising 

 at the Bar, but always working steadily at natural history. He 

 was a constant attendant at the meetings of the Zoological Society 

 of London, of which he was elected a Fellow in 1850, and in 1857 

 became a Member of the Council. In 1858 he took a prominent 

 share in founding The Ibis, and became its first editor. 



" In January, 1859, Sclater made a short excursion to Tunis 

 and Eastern Algeria, in company with his friend, E. C. Taylor. 

 They visited the breeding-places of the Vultures and Kites in 

 the interior, and gathered many bird-skins, returning to London at 

 the end of March. 



" At this time Mr. D. W. Mitchell, secretary of the Zoological 

 Society, was about to vacate his post, in order to take charge of 

 the newly-instituted Jar din d' Acclimatisation in Paris. As his 

 successor Sclater was selected by Owen and Yarrell, then influential 

 members of the Council, and was unanimously elected at the 

 anniversary meeting on 30th April, 1859. 



" He found it necessary for several years to devote himself 

 entirely to the reorganization of the affairs of the Society. The 

 Proceedings and Transactions were at that time several 

 years in arrear — they were brought up to date ; the ' Garden 

 Guide,' which was out of print, was re-written ; the large staff at 

 the Gardens was re-arranged and divided into departments under 

 the superintendent, and various other reforms were introduced. 



" In 1874, when his brother (then the Right Hon. George 

 Sclater-Booth, M.P., and afterwards Lord Basing) accepted office 

 in Mr. Disraeli's administration as President of the Local Govern- 

 ment Board, Sclater became his private secretary, a position 

 which he occupied for two years. But when subsequently offered 

 a permanent place in the Civil Service he declined it, because he 

 could not make up his mind to give up his dearly-loved work in 



