136 WANDERINGS AND MEMORIES 



soon as I can. I'd like to get you to Alnwick to 

 look at the things I have got this trip, and they will 

 almost all be there by the end of February. 



" Write me a line to 2 Grosvenor Place and tell 

 me your plans and when you are free, and if you 

 won't come up there I must come and see you, if 

 you'll let me. 



" I'm afraid Fischer's Eider is no certainty in 

 Alaska now. None have come out of the country 

 for eight years, and none have been seen by col- 

 lectors who before that got them regularly. I got 

 an old skin some time ago. It's a poor specimen, but 

 I think it will clean up. The duck that interests 

 me most in this country is the Ruddy. He hasn't 

 got any eclipse as far as I can make out, but moults 

 from his red breeding plumage into the brown he 

 spends the winter in, and about now he begins to 

 show signs of the red plumage again. He is a dear 

 little bird, too, I think, and I am most grateful to 

 him for the fact that his skin comes off like a glove ! 



" What is really the state of things in England, I 

 wonder. Some of the papers here would make one 

 think we were on the brink of civil war, and others 

 say there's nothing in it, and it's all a storm in a 

 teacup. At any rate, I hope my valuable services 

 will be dispensed with. I fancy I shall do better 

 looking for stelleri than I should quelling the turbu- 

 lent Irishman. 



" I put out this rotten shoulder of mine two days 

 ago, for the twentieth time, I should think, but it 

 made me as sore as can be and very stiff. However, 

 I think I can still hit Anas fulvigula if he gives me 

 the chance. 



" Please remember me kindly to your wife and 



