224 



LIFE OF TEGETMEIER 



walls of natural history, belonged to a later 

 generation : yet all predeceased him. With the 

 passing of Tegetmeier, it may be said that a 

 great line became extinct. 



In the letter of condolence from the secretary 

 of the British Ornithologists' Union, quoted at the 

 end of Chapter XV., there are two expressions 

 — " one of the pioneers," and " his example will 

 live on " — which unconsciously illustrate and 

 justify my motive in attempting this memoir of 

 W. B. Tegetmeier. It was largely because I 

 knew my late father-in-law was one of the most 

 earnest and honest of pioneers in popularising 

 a love of true natural history, and because I 

 believed his example worthy of imitation in 

 spirit by present writers on the " popular " 

 aspects of that science, that I undertook the 

 task. And in the carrying out of it I can only 

 hope that my ignorance of this branch of science 

 which Tegetmeier made his own, may be excused 

 by my enthusiasm for the student and for the 

 study of Nature, which is to me, at least, the 

 servant of real Religion. 



