Xll PROCEEDINGS. 



tion, that he was a man of sweet disposition, tender and merciful to- 

 all his feathered friends, and though perhaps he could not say yes 

 to Emerson's pointed question, "Hast thous named all the birds 

 without a gun?'' he was incapable of any act of cruelty or neglect. 

 My acquaintance with Downs commenced very soon after 

 arrival, for in him I found the very man who could tell me all 

 about the wild creatures of this favoured little province, the ideal 

 home of the naturalist and sportsman. To live and camp in the 

 great backwoods of Canada had been mv ambition in early }^outh r 

 and in his company I served an apprenticeship as it were, and 

 commenced habits of observation which have stored my memory" 

 with the songs and scents of the woods and the ways of their 

 denizens during a prolonged residence of some sixteen years. 



In re-reading lately a very entertaining little book by Samuel 

 Smiles, entitled " The Life of a Scotch Naturalist/' I was struck 

 by some points of resemblance between its subject, Thomas Edward,. 

 A. L. S., and Andrew Downs of Nova Scotia. Both were men of 

 humble origin, and both became in their early lives devotees of 

 nature study as it is now popularly termed, leaving their respective 

 callings to work in that fascinating field. Both were strenuous 

 workers, taxidermists and collectors, practical men and not over 

 much given to library lore. Both were recognized by the scien- 

 tific world as having acquired their knowledge of natural history at 

 first-hand, and though cultivating their own powers of observation. 

 It seems, too, that they had much similarity of character, the same 

 honest grasping of facts and hatred of shams, the same Spartan-like 

 simplicity of life, with much originality and a sturdy independence 

 which under all circumstances compels respect. Edward was 

 credited^with many discoveries and additions to British zoology. 

 Downs gave more impetus to forwarding the knowledge of local 

 natural history than any Canadian before his day. Every visitor 

 desirous of acquaintance with wild life in the woods or by the 

 waters of Acadie, went to Downs for advice or reference ; and few 

 returned to Europe, after a sojourn more or less prolonged in the 

 maritime provinces, without taking back either some trophy of 

 the larger game or specimens of the beautiful avi-fauna of eastern 

 Canada which had passed through our naturalist's skilful hands. 



