398 BRITISH BIRDS. 



Aberdeen, and on September the 8th of that same year 

 he died at his residence in Crown Street in that city. 

 In the pathetic " Conclusion " to the fifth volume he 

 states, " I have finished one of the many difficult and 

 laborious tasks which I had imposed on myself." . . . . 

 " Commenced in hope and carried on with zeal, though 

 ended in sorrow and sickness, I can look upon my work 

 without much regard to the opinions which contemporary 

 writers may form of it, assured that what is useful in it 

 will not be forgotten .... and knowing that it 

 will powerfully influence the next generation of our 

 home-ornithologists . ' ' 



If Macgilhvray was not " the most eminent ornithologist 

 in Europe," as he has been designated by his admirers, 

 and perhaps that description better applies to Naumann, 

 he certainly was by far the greatest ornithological genius 

 that this island has produced, and as such we have every 

 reason to honour his memory. 



Wilham Yarrell, Macgilhvray' s great contemporary, 

 was born on the 3rd of June, 1784, in the parish of St. 

 James', London. His father carried on the trade of a 

 newspaper agent in Duke Street, and to this business 

 Yarrell succeeded in due course. He was educated at 

 Ealing, and in his eighteenth year entered the banking- 

 house of Herries, Farquhar & Co., as a clerk, but soon 

 left to assist his father in business. Yarrell seems to 

 have turned his attention to the study of ornithology 

 while engaged on the fishing and shooting expeditions 

 with which he varied the monotony of business. As 

 he neared middle age his love for natural history increased, 

 and he abandoned field sports, and henceforward devoted 

 himself to the systematic study of zoology. In 1823 

 he commenced to note the appearance of rare and interest- 

 ing birds, and is said to have aided Bewick by sending him 

 rare specimens. He became a fellow of the Linnsean 

 Society in 1825, and was one of the original members of 

 the Zoological Society. In 1836 he completed a " History 



