186 LIFE OF TEGETMEIER 



he writes, " I find myself amidst a number of 

 bird-fanciers in a not-too-respectable beershop 

 in the purlieus of Bethnal Green " ; but wherever 

 he found himself, he brought away something 

 worth the telling. 



Anything in the shape of abnormal structure 

 had a fascination for him, whether it were beak, 

 bone or antler, and of variations in the plumage 

 of birds he made a special study, as witness the 

 already mentioned work on Breeding for Colour. 

 He was the first naturalist (writes Mr. E. D. 

 Cuming) to record the rare phenomenon of 

 assumption of female plumage by the male bird : 

 the converse, adds my friend, is not uncommon. 

 Tegetmeier's writings on such topics bore some 

 resemblance to those of Ins colleague Frank 

 Buckland, but my impression is that Tegetmeier 

 possessed a wider range and more catholic interests. 

 He retained his interest in those curiosities 

 which are to be found in travelling menageries 

 and " shows " until a late period of his life. 

 Sir Walter Gilbey tells me that once when travel- 

 ling with him in France, about the year 1898, 

 the presence of a dwarf — or a giant — in a caravan 

 at a fair was mentioned by one of the party at 

 dinner ; the old man (for he was then eighty-two) 

 enlisted the services of a French-speaking friend, 

 and directly the meal was over set out to pay 

 the caravan a visit and inspect the curiosity. As 

 illustrating his eagerness of mind where animals 



