Mr, mid Mrs. Shnson. 279 



season, may be seen starting for the cover-side Mr. and 

 Mrs. Simson — a husband and wife quite of one mind as 

 to the pleasure to be derived from the chase, and fully 

 bent upon seeing the end as well as the beginning of 

 a day with hounds. Of a sportsman, to whom the 

 excitement of fox-hunting must be as nothing compared 

 with his experiences among the " big game '^ of India, 

 it may truthfully be affirmed that the tiger of Bengal has 

 had few more constant and determined enemies than the 

 proprietor of the hunting-box so situate on Spratton 

 Hill as to be under the influence of "a' the airts the 

 wind can blaw," and more to boot. 



Deeply versed in the habits and peculiarities of the 

 wild animals of the country in which he has passed so 

 many years of his life, Mr. Simson has at this time on its 

 way through the press a work which is likely to become 

 the standard authority on the natural history of that 

 part of India in which he has pursued his studies. ISTor 

 does he take less delight in finding out the ways of 

 the winged and creeping creatures of his native land. 

 An ornithologist of no ordinary acquirements, by him 

 every bird he sees is recognizable by its flight, note, or 

 plumage; and with its mode of nesting and general 

 habits he is little less familiar than the accomplished 

 Northamptonshire Nobleman, whose beautiful work on 

 British Birds is now in course of publication. 



With these tastes, and with a keen enjoyment of the 

 ridiculous, to no one could the small boy's reply as to 

 the peculiarities of the cuckoo have been more fittingly 

 made. When asked in what respect this bird differed in 

 its habits from others, he answered that ^' it was the 

 only one that didn^t lay its own eggs ^^ — a display of 



