74 FRANCIS ORPEN MORRIS 



a severe critic on the drawing of the figures which 

 appeared in his own book. This was only to be 

 expected in one who had all his life so closely 

 observed the habits of birds. Some interesting 

 notes of his upon the figures of the birds bear out 

 my remark. In this figure it appeared to him that 

 the front of the wing " needed a little rounding ; " 

 in that, the body of the bird was "too thick and 

 heavy, and required tapering ; " while of another 

 he observed, " End of wing too square ; also back 

 feathers too much hollowed in near the tail. The 

 tail is rather too short." For all things he had an 

 accurate and observant eye ; anything out of place 

 caught his notice at once. 



Not only did his friend, Richard Alington, give 

 him the benefit of his clever sketches, but through 

 a long course of years furnished him also with a 

 vast number of valuable nature-notes of his own. 

 His letters were always highly and deservedly appre- 

 ciated, containing as they did many ornithological 

 observations, made mostly in his immediate neigh- 

 bourhood, which could always be relied upon for 

 accuracy. Thus, in a letter written on November 8, 

 1851, he enclosed a list of all the birds he had 

 seen in his corner of Lincolnshire, indicating by 

 marks their different degrees of rarity, or otherwise 

 furnishing interesting notes in connection with some 

 species ; for instance, after the Blackbird he adds : 

 " Have you noticed in young birds in October and 

 November the inclination to have a light mark round 

 the neck where the Ring Ouzel is white ? " Scarcely 



