young- under the eaves of his church, with watch in 

 hand. He saw them transfer the mouse they 

 brought from the foot to the beak, that they might 

 have the free use of the former in ascending to the 

 nest. 



In his walks and drives about the country he was 

 all attention^ to the life about him, simply from his 

 delight in any fresh bit of natural knowledge. His 

 curiosity never flagged. He had naturally an alert 

 mind. His style reflects this alertness and sensitive- 

 ness. In his earlier days he was an enthusiastic 

 sportsman, and he carried the sportsman's trained 

 sense and love of the chase into his natural-history 

 studies. He complained that faunists were too apt 

 to content themselves with general terms and bare 

 descriptions ; the reason, he says, is plain — *' be- 

 cause all that may be done at home in a man's 

 study ; but the investigation of the life and conversa- 

 tion of animals is a concern of much more trouble 

 and difficulty, and is not to be attained but by the 

 active and inquisitive, and by those that reside much 

 in the country." He himself had the true inquisi- 

 tiveness and activity, and the loving, discriminating 

 eye. He saw the specific marks and differences at a 

 glance. Then, his love of these things was so well 

 known in the neighbourhood, that this kind of knowl- 

 edge flowed to him from all sides. He was a magnet 

 that attracted all the fresh, natural lore about him. 

 People brought him birds and eggs and nests, and 



