.2.21 Dr. P. L. Sclater on the Birds 



these drawings. He has also pointed out to me that Holme 

 Mas a frequent contributor to the ' Zoologist ' (1843 to 18-15), 

 as will be seen by reference to that journal. 



Strickland, who took his degree at Oxford, and after 1846, 

 until his death in 1853, was a constant resident there, giving 

 lectures as " Reader in Geology/' had, of course, every 

 opportunity of studying these drawings, and was evidently 

 associated with Holme in arranging and naming them. On 

 reference to Jardine's ' Memoirs of Hugh Edwin Strick- 

 land ' (London, 1858), the following passage will be found 

 (p. exevii) in a letter addressed by Strickland to Edward 

 Forbes (dated April 20th, 184.2) :— 



" I saw lately at Oxford a collection of unpublished 

 drawings made by Dr. Sibthorp forty years ago in Greece 

 and Cyprus, and among the birds are many not recorded as 

 European." 



As regards Gould's share in the transaction, I suspect that 

 it was small. He was, however, consulted on the subject 

 by Holme, as we know from the Strickland correspondence. 

 Besides this, I remember that Gould came to Oxford on 

 a visit to Strickland some time in 184G or 1817. I was 

 resident as an undergraduate at Corpus at that time, and I 

 well recollect the satisfaction with which, as a youngster in 

 ornithology, I received an invitation to breakfast from Strick- 

 land and his wife (who were then living in lodgings in Merton 

 Lane) " to meet Mr. Gould." This was my first introduction 

 to " John Gould the Birdman " — one of the most remarkable 

 personages 1 have ever known in the course of a long life. 

 It was probably on this occasion, I think, that Gould was 

 consulted by Strickland as to the determination of those of 

 the Sibthorpian drawings to which his initials are attached. 



With regard to the drawings themselves, 114 in number, as 

 already stated, illustrating about 100 species, I think that it 

 is hardly worth while to print a list of them, as there are no 

 localities or any points of original information attached to 

 them, and we know 7 that they were not arranged and named 

 until fifty years after their execution. But I conjecture that 

 the greater number of them were made in Cyprus, where, 



