CANON TRISTRAM 309 



to hear it blowing bubbles through its nostrils, just 

 putting the tip of its bill in water. 



A.N. to Canon H. B. Tristram : 



10, Beaufort Gardens, 



December 29, 1890. 



I had begun to be unhappy about you. There 

 seemed a possibility in these days of (asserted) noiseless 

 explosions that the Great Gun of Durham had gone off 

 silently, with intentions murderous to the peace of 

 Hawaiian birds, and that the Sandwich Island Com- 

 mittee might be startled to find that both bread and 

 meat were taken out of its mouth, and a flavour of 

 Durham mustard left only. 



I thank you for your good wishes, and return them 

 to you and all yours ; but put not your trust in grand- 

 children being ornithologists or any of the rising 

 generation. The more promising they are as boys the 

 less likely are they to turn out worth anything. Think 

 of Lilford's youngest boy who was unhappy because he 

 was shaky on his " Grebes," and has now descended to 

 incredible baseness, even acting in a Greek play where 

 he had to call a Swan " redfooted " ! N.B., it could 

 not have been C. coscoruba and was hardly likely to 

 be C. davidi. 



Your voyage will not be so entertaining as Magel- 

 lan's (by the way, get Guillemard's new book* and 

 take it with you to read), but I hope less disastrous, 

 very delightful for a good sailor, but for sight seeing 

 nil nisi pontus et aer, as the old Latin grammar put it, 

 until you get to Japan, and then I expect you will be 

 much pressed for time. Convey my love to Mitsukuri 

 at Tokio, and another man there, a very nice fellow and 

 a botanist whose name at this moment I forget. He 

 came to Cambridge speaking American quite intelligibly, 

 but after he had been with us a little while he spoke 

 English so fluently that he ranallhiswordsintooneword- 

 andcouldn'tbyanymeansbeunderstood, perhaps he has 



* " Ferdinand Magellan." 



