PERSONAL 133 



songster, and downwards in measured cadence, 

 both of song and descent, but rather more rapidly 

 than he went up, he will stoop, nearer and nearer 

 he will come, until at last, suspended for a moment 

 over the spot which contains his mate, for whose 

 delight no doubt he has been warbling all the while 

 his loudest and sweetest notes, and whom he has 

 kept all along in his sight, slanting at the end for 

 a greater or less distance, probably as danger may 

 or may not appear to be nigh, he drops with half- 

 closed and unmoved wings, and is at home : 



' A charm from the skies seems to hallow us there, 

 Which, search where you will, you'll ne'er meet with else- 

 where. 3 " 



It is remarkable how the subject of nomenclature, 

 scientific or other, seemed to have interested him 

 all through his life. So early as 1837 ne wrote a 

 paper for the Naturalist on the present nomenclature 

 of British ornithology, giving explicit suggestions 

 for a remedy, and from that time onwards the 

 question " What's in a name ? " seemed to him to 

 be one that always needed a careful and thoughtful 

 answer. Allusion having been made to this else- 

 where, I need not dwell further upon it, except to 

 add that he had the greatest objection to adopt 

 any abbreviation or alteration in men's names or 

 place-names ; he could never bring himself even 

 to make use of such common shortnesses as Dick, 

 Tom, or Fred in addressing people ; with him they, 

 even the poorest, were always Richard, Thomas, 



