PERSONAL 117 



tiny creature's life. Or if a large moth found its way 

 into the drawing-room, or a bat or a bird into a bed- 

 room at night, there was quite a lively scene. Up 

 he would get and rush off for one of his disused 

 butterfly-nets, and give chase to the animal or crea- 

 ture, whatever it might be. To all entreaties to let 

 it alone he was utterly regardless ; he would never 

 rest until he had caught it and put it out of reach of 

 danger. Even in the middle of the night, if any- 

 thing of this kind happened, he at once got up, went 

 downstairs for his net, and did his utmost to catch 

 the intruder, and that even at the risk of disturbing 

 the slumbers of the whole household. 



Few people would credit the amount of trouble he 

 took on behalf of all creatures, great and small, and 

 with regard to birds in particular. Let me give one 

 more instance. It would be about midsummer 1863 

 that he had occasion to drive with two ladies from 

 Driffield to Nunburnholme. In order to obtain at. 

 first hand reliable statistics for a letter he was about 

 to write on the subject of small birds, in connection 

 with the damage they are supposed to do to crops, 

 he determined to count every field and every bird 

 he saw by the roadsides along the whole distance of 

 fourteen miles ; that is, twenty-eight miles of hedge- 

 rows. The ladies, it is true, gave him some assist- 

 ance ; otherwise it would probably have been impos- 

 sible to perform the task. But the calculation was 

 made, and the results of his observation were as 

 follows: Fields Fallow, i ; beans, i ; potatoes, i ; 

 tares, 3 ; clover or seeds, 17 ; turnips, 26 ; corn, 46 ; 



