194 LIFE OF TEGETMEIER 



and had his own observations confirmed by 

 botanical experts at Kew Gardens before he gave 

 his verdict. The results of such examinations 

 were duly set forth in the Field, and if fact and 

 logic could convince, the case was settled. His 

 integrity and impartiality were so well known 

 that he would be appointed arbitrator in scientific 

 disputes, and custodian of specimens alive or dead. 

 The Acclimatisation Society once asked him to 

 house a pair of Wonga pigeons, and as we have 

 seen, his services were often in request as editor 

 to other naturalists' writings. Thus, recognising 

 the value of a series of articles on Cranes, contri- 

 buted to the Field by the late Edward Blyth, 

 one of the most able zoologists of his day, some 

 seven years after Blyth' s death he reprinted 

 the series in book form, in 1881, with some 

 additions and many illustrations. Under the 

 title of The Natural History of the Cranes, by 

 W. B. Tegetmeier and Edward Blyth, it was 

 published by Horace Cox at half-a-guinea, and 

 proved a very useful monograph on this curious 

 group of birds. It was said of him that he 

 appeared to be largely superior to mere literary 

 ambition, and so long as he got his facts properly 

 established and recorded, he was quite content 

 to let the personal credit go. " He was, indeed," 

 says this Yorkshire writer on natural history, 

 " an adept in finding merit in other men's work, 

 and he would on occasion bring scattered articles 





