8 2 Alexander Goodman More. [i85G 



Hall. He seemed to possess some good eggs, but you know I am no 

 connoisseur of that department. I am very glad to hear you are getting 

 on so well in the sterna. We are now just off to skate, after three 

 nights of very hard frost. I hope you may get a chance on the Cam 

 when you go up. It was very good of you to take the trouble of writing 

 after me a second time. Pray let me hear again." 



The' spring 1 was spent at Cheltenham ; and in June the 

 Mores again settled at Vectis Lodge, Bembridge, which 

 now continued to be their home until 1862. This six years' 

 residence at Bembridge was the period of his closest atten- 

 tion to critical botany, as well as most of his work at the 

 natural history of the Isle of Wight. But the magnetism 

 of that larger Island which he already called his "second 

 home" had been, if possible, intensified by his recent visit 

 there ; and it was now that, in the "Zoologist," " Hesperus " 

 called on his brother " naturalists and sportsmen that like 

 something larger than gnats or diatoms for a quarry/' to 

 "turn their attention westward " to a litle-explored land. 



His zoological friends were at this time chiefly of the 

 type thus apostrophized. Two more letters to Mr. Newton 

 must not be omitted. The Irish Hare sadly perplexes him. 



VECTIS LODGE, BEMBRIDGE, 



June 2bth, 1856. 



MY DEAR NEWTON, When I look at the date of your last long 

 letter, and then find that something like three whole months have 

 elapsed since I received it, you may suppose that I feel inclined to begin 

 in a very penitent and humble mood, and so I do ; but I still hope (as 

 usually happens in such cases) to be able to satisfy you it has not 

 altogether been my own fault. 



You will see by the dating of this that my family have once more 

 returned to the Isle of Wight, and we are only just settling down into 

 our former residence, which has been unlet during the whole time of our 

 absence, so that what with papering, painting, and brick and mortar, I 

 can assure you we are most fully occupied. I left Ireland at the end of 

 March, and after spending a few days in Wales, joined my people at 

 Cheltenham, where I received your interesting communication about 

 the Great Bustard. What a treat it must have been for you to follow 

 so hotly on the trail of your favourite bird, and one too which I think 

 you told me was all but lost in England. 1 do rejoice to hear it escaped, 

 at least if it was not the same that came into Yarrell's hands about 

 that time. Do you not think these birds were certainly winter visitants ? 

 and if so, ornithologists may still hope for an occasional specimen on 



