138 Alexander Goodman More. [isei 



This, from a little known part of the world, and relating 

 to birds readily confounded, was no easy matter on which 

 to pass judgment. If true, it established the right of a 

 bird hitherto only very doubtfully warranted to a place 

 in the British list. It seemed to be a case for " proof by 

 specimen." But alas ! when the ground was again visited 

 in the nesting season of 1861, the Skuas, of whatever spe- 

 cies, had been all but exterminated. " A gamekeeper made 

 a point of shooting every bird that attempted to breed 

 on the moor " ; and so successful had been his efforts 

 that neither proof nor disproof was, in this instance, 

 obtainable. 



Among other cases calling for quarantine was one over 

 which he made rather a wry face ; for it was one of his cher- 

 ished Isle of Wight birds the Woodchat. " What ! rob me 

 of my Woodchat ! When the young bird was shot, and 

 bears a white patch in the middle of the wing," he wrote 

 to his " chief consulting adviser," from whom, of course, 

 the slight on the poor bird had come. But as the markings 

 of the immature Shrike did not convince Mr. Newton as to 

 its parentage, the Freshwater " Woodchat " was relegated 

 to the same position as (for example) the Little Bustard, 

 whose only "British" egg was reported to be in the 

 Elveden collection. 



He had been sanguine enough to hope to publish an in- 

 stalment of his paper in the ensuing October. But the 

 many fresh channels of communication which opened 

 up as the summer advanced were a more than sufficient 

 ground for postponement, even if the state of his health 

 had not made it necessary. On May 3rd he wrote to Mr. 

 Newton : "Your speaking of my journey to London drives 

 me to the confession that I have been very unwell lately. 

 I have been now three weeks in doctor's hands, and I fear 

 I shall not be well enough to join your May meeting, much 

 as I should like to meet the "Ibisites" again, and especially 

 to confer with yourself. The spring is always a very trying 

 season to my health, and this year has treated me worse 

 than usual. You know I am never much better than an 

 invalid, but now my strength seems to have completely 



