The Zoologist — October, 1866. 427 



enjoyed at the moment, but, in high glee, and with all the animation 

 and gaiety of juvenescence on his part, reported to a friend who 

 accidentally arrived soon afterwards." — p. 256. 



This seems to have made a deep and lasting impression on the 

 doctor ; but other instances of greatness await us. 



" When Mr. Waterton was seventy-seven years of age, I was witness 

 to his scratching the back part of his head with the big toe of his 

 right foot. He knew no fear; and in daring enterprise, or in what is 

 vulgarly termed ' pluck,' my friend signally excelled by comparison 

 with the amount usually allotted to man." — p. 57. 



In this case one scarcely knows whether to admire more the daring 

 act of the hero, or the very inconsequent reflection it has elicited from 

 the biographer. But to proceed. 



" I have frequently, in painful suspense, and much against my own 

 inclination, seen the Squire, when beyond seventy years of age, hop on 

 one leg along the brink of a rock forming the highest terrace in the 

 grotto, whilst the other leg was dangling over the chasm below; and 

 when thus hopping at a rapid rate, he would whirl himself entirely 

 round in the air, and dropping on the other foot, would return again by 

 hopping back on the contrary leg." — p. 113. 



" I have seen the Squire repeatedly sitting on the grass, or on the 

 carpet, crosslegged, as tailors sit on their work-board, when he would, 

 to the astonishment and great delight of any surrounding friends, rise 

 up into an erect position, without touching the ground with either 

 hand."— p. 114. 



" He would frequently come out to welcome me, even in his slippers, 

 and prove his pleasure to receive me by actually dancing down the 

 whole length of the broad flagged walk, occasionally throwing one of 

 his loose slippers from his foot high up in the air above his head, and 

 expertly catching it in his hand in its descent." — p. 173. 



It is a more agreeable duty to give extracts which exhibit some- 

 thing more of Mr. Waterton's character as a naturalist, in which light 

 alone we desire to consider him. As an instance, take this winter 

 sketch of his favourite pond. 



"Apart from the breeding season, coots are very numerous at 

 Walton Hall. They are continually feeding and sporting on the lake, 

 within a short distance from the windows of the house, together with 

 countless thousands of a great variety of water-fowl. During the 

 severe winter months, when the whole lake is one sheet of ice, its 

 appearance would now and then astound au old and even travelled 



