LETTER FROM THE REV. F. M. STOPFORD 53 



think I knew a sentence in Gaelic, but Tom 

 Powys picked it up from hearing the stalkers' 

 conversation the very first year that he was in 

 the Highlands. I do not mean that he could 

 ever talk it as he could his favourite Spanish, 

 but it was not safe for the stalkers to converse 

 before him, and criticise the badness of any 

 particular shot, without his understanding what 

 they were saying. In the Oxford days his voice 

 was at its best, and his delightful singing at 

 supper parties and other social gatherings will 

 never be forgotten by those of his old friends 

 who still survive him.' 



The Kev. F. M. Stopford, another old Oxford 

 friend, sends me the following letter : ' Lilford 

 was keen on birds when at Christ Church, and 

 hired a stable and outhouses for what became 

 the nucleus of his collection. At every spare 

 hour he would go on tours of observation (the 

 district was favourable), and so obtained a larger 

 acquaintance with the subject so dear to him. 

 As you know, his stay at Oxford was not of 

 long duration, and he passed from thence into 

 the Northamptonshire Militia. His friends were 

 many, and of the St. Aldate's Club (Christ 



