334 Alexander Goodman More. [i8S5 



true Great Snipe, which was the first he had ever seen. 

 This he found could not be secured for the Museum, as the 

 too facile owner had already promised it to another col- 

 lector. But it was something to have seen at last " one of 

 the rarest of Irish birds/' as he had called it, in a circular 

 printed with a view to eliciting information for the revision 

 of his Bird List. In January, 1887, he again took in hand 

 this subject, and wrote to a number of his ornithological 

 friends. " I was very glad," replies one (Rev. George 

 Robinson), "the other day, to receive your letter. It was 

 so well and pleasantly written that I conclude from it that 

 you must be greatly better of the serious illness which you 

 were suffering from. But now to answer some of your 

 questions." One of the questions related to the Quail a 

 bird whose cry he had first learned to know in the county 

 Armagh, in the days when he went ornithologizing in Mr. 

 Robinson's company. But times had changed; "the 

 Quail appears to be extinct now in the county of Armagh," 

 is the answer given (January igth, 1887) to his query. On 

 February 6th he had a more satisfactory item reported by 

 another correspondent (Mr. W. Corbet) that two specimens 

 of the Woodlark had quite lately been taken in county 

 Cork. They are now in the Museum. And in April he 

 was able to see through the press his Guide to the General 

 Collection of Mammals and Birds. 



At last, on April 2 7th, 1 887, he was able to leave his bed 

 for a few minutes in the day. He was not yet equal to the 

 achievement recorded on the 2Qth, when he " sat up for one 

 hour." But among his letters is one bearing the date of 

 his first experiment in sitting up, and written to a Harrow 

 schoolboy, who had recently begun consulting him in his 

 early natural history studies. 



April 27 th, 1887. 



DEAR SIR, Judging from its size, the Owl which you mention in 

 your last letter should be the small Scops Owl, a great rarity. Can 

 this be the same specimen which is recorded as having been taken at 

 Kilmore, Wexford ? You will soon find the absolute need of some good 

 book to make out your birds, and if you have not already got it I hope 

 you will soon become possessor of the fourth edition of " Yarrell's 

 British Birds," in four volumes. It costs ^4, but is quite indispensable 



