(r?) 



of his ornithological observations, and, if any desire 

 were expressed for it by ornithologists, a selection from 

 his note-books would be well worth publishing. 



My father had a very wide and accurate knowledge 

 not of birds alone but also of almost all British mammals 

 and reptiles. He was especially constant in his obser- 

 vation of squirrels and their habits they abounded in 

 the Rectory shrubbery and on the lawn ; but he seemed 

 to have an instinctive knowledge, almost like that of 

 an old poacher, of all wild animals and their ways. Of 

 British reptiles he made a special study stimulated 

 perhaps by the occurrence (which was soon found to be 

 regular) of the local Coronella laevis on Bloxworth 

 Heath ; and he wrote an account in 1894 of the Rep- 

 tiles of Dorset. 



It has been mentioned already that he was an early 

 Darwinian, and a number of rough notes and tentative 

 essays, in which he tried to clear up his mind on various 

 topics, show his special interest in the theory of evolu- 

 tion. More definite than these is his opinion on the 

 problem of secondary sexual characters, upon which he 

 corresponded a good deal with Darwin, Wallace, and 

 others, an opinion different from that of Darwin and 

 more like that of Wallace, who quotes it (Darwinism, 

 p. 196) in support of his own view. My father wrote 

 (in 1869): I myself doubt that particular application 

 of the Darwinian theory which attributes male peculiari- 

 ties of form, structure, colour, and ornament to female 



