rarer Snipes the Great Snipe, Sabine's Snipe, and the 

 Jack Snipe. The lawn at Bloxworth Rectory was a fine 

 place for the observation of bird life. The Tawny Owl 

 nested regularly in an ash-tree there- the Great and 

 Little Spotted Woodpeckers were also regular inhabi- 

 tants ; and Hawfinches, sometimes one pair, sometimes 

 several, were to be seen year after year. My father's 

 ornithological note-book is full of inter esting notes on 

 the habits, migrations, and food of birds of many species. 

 Now and then he recorded the occurrence of unusual 

 varieties an almost white Willow Wren, a white 

 Nightjar, a Blackbird (which appeared constantly from 

 i8<?x to 1894) with a pale yellow-brown gorget, like that 

 of the Ring Ouzel in shape ; and another (in 1895-) with 

 pale, dull sooty-brown wings. 



He had at one time a very fine collection of stuffed 

 birds of his own shooting, including many great rari- 

 ties; but these were lent to an exhibition (I believe 

 during his absence abroad), and were allowed to be 

 destroyed by moth. Fortunately the specimen of the 

 Downy Woodpecker, shot by his brother Edward on the 

 lawn at Bloxworth in December, 1836, was not among 

 these, and is still in my possession, as are about twenty 

 other specimens which he acquired in later years, mostly 

 from keepers who had shot them after their manner. 

 The appended list of his published notes on birds, 

 though they deal with a considerable range of topics, 

 does not. really represent the great variety and interest 



