1849] Influence of a Nuthatch. 7 



to know all about a Nuthatch I had shot, whkh I compared 

 with and found out in Bewick/' This happened in the 

 Christmas vacation, 1 846. The Nuthatch was a very natural 

 bird to arouse his curiosity, for in the Isle of Wight it is 

 never seen. 



The Nuthatch was shot with a pistol, and it was at a 

 friend's house that he looked it up in Bewick ; but in April 

 of the following year (1847) ne received, as presents, 

 Bewick's " History of British Birds," and a gun. Next 

 year he himself bought Eyton's " Supplement to Bewick," 

 and Selby's " Ornithology." The Mores were now again 

 settled at Bembridge, and he had come home ill from 

 Rugby before the end of the school half. As he says, he 

 " began to study Birds more carefully." He read St. John's 

 " Highland Sports." A friend lent him a boat for several 

 months an invaluable ally in the pursuit of water-birds. 

 " I shall not easily forget my delight when first the Great 

 Northern Diver fell before my gun," he wrote years after- 

 wards, in reference to an episode of this autumn, in which, 

 also, he shot his first Snipe, and made acquaintance with 

 the Sanderling and the Brambling, both rare visitors to 

 Bembridge. The severity of that winter brought more 

 rarities than usual to the south coast. One day in December 

 he saw a large white bird flying about in the flooded San- 

 down Marches, which he set down as a Stork ; but after- 

 wards, from there having been no black on its wings, he 

 became convinced that it must have been a Spoonbill. 

 But the best prize he obtained during the year was a Cur- 

 lew Sandpiper, which he stuffed and kept ever afterwards, 

 and which is now in the collection of one of his friends. 



Natural History had now become his recognized hobby, 

 and he was fortunate in finding several friends who much 

 encouraged and helped him. Mr. Frederick Bond was one 

 of these : he was in the habit of paying frequent visits to 

 the Isle of Wight, and soon came to regard young More 

 with great interest, the two having both entomological 

 and ornithological tastes in common. But a still earlier 

 stimulator was his near neighbour and family doctor, 

 Thomas Bell Salter, a nephew of the zoologist Bell, and 

 himself a distinguished botanist. 



