PARENTAGE AND EARLY LIFE 15 



against it, for, though an excellent shot, he never 

 could bring himself in his latter years to take the 

 life of any bird. The first stuffed bird he ever 

 possessed was a jay which his father brought him 

 just after he had gone to school. This bird he 

 kept carefully all his life, and from it the engraving 

 in his " History of British Birds" was made. Many 

 were the stories which he used to relate of his 

 school-days ; and his journeys to Bromsgrove on 

 the top of the coach, when he was about fifteen 

 years of age, were graphically described by him. 

 These were to him good old days, and he frequently 

 alluded to them as such. After leaving school, 

 which he did in 1828, he went for about two years 

 to a private tutor, the Rev. J. M. Butt, then Vicar 

 of East Garston, near Lambourne, in Berkshire. It 

 was while reading here that he was struck down, 

 as stated above, no less than four times with serious 

 illnesses. With the exception of these times of 

 sickness, the two years passed pleasantly enough. 

 Needless to say, while a pupil of Mr. Butt's, he 

 eagerly followed up his outdoor studies, and his 

 observations of bird life were in constant exercise. 

 He records in one of his volumes the fact of his 

 obtaining here two specimens of the Cirl Bunting, 

 a bird of some rarity, having been attracted to 

 them by their note, which differed from that of 

 the common yellow Bunting. 



From East Garston he proceeded directly to 

 Worcester College, Oxford, staying on the way for 

 a few days with Rev. R. L. Cotton, then a tutor, and 



