72 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
course of his collecting had frequently to send his specimens to 
other naturalists to be named, and thus he often lost them. 
“Edward,” we are told, “had to begin at the beginning with 
everything.” He did not possess a single work on Natural 
History. He did not know the names of the birds and animals 
that he caught, or of the plants which he collected. For many 
years after he had begun his researches his knowledge of natural 
objects was obtained by chance. He knew little of the nature and 
habits of the creatures that he went to seek; he scarcely knew 
where or how to find them. Yet his very absence of knowledge 
proved a source of inexhaustible pleasure to him. All that he 
learnt of the form, habits, and characteristics of birds and animals 
was obtained by his own personal observation. Besides his 
intense love of Nature he possessed invincible determination, and 
this gave him an immense advantage. Whatever object in Natural 
History he desired to possess, if it were possible to obtain it, he 
never rested until he had succeeded. He sometimes lost for a 
time the object of which he was in search, because he wished to 
study its habits: for this purpose he would observe long and 
patiently before obtaining it, by which means he acquired an 
amount of information such as no book on Natural History could 
have supplied him with. 
Dependent for an income upon his trade, he worked at it the 
livelong day, but early dawn and gathering twilight saw him far 
afield in eager search of natural living objects, while snatching 
his sleep at intervals between departing night and returning day. 
Occasionally, when kept late at work, he was prevented from 
enjoying his evening ramble. After going to bed, and taking a 
short sleep, he would set out in the dark in order to reach a 
particular spot by daylight, whence he would work his way 
homeward as the hour for business approached. Sometimes in 
his enthusiasm he would remain out all night, sleeping in a fox’s 
or badger’s “earth” which he had enlarged for the purpose: nor 
did he scruple to avail himself of a dry ditch, or even to lie upon 
the bare ground, when the exigencies of the case seemed to require 
it. How he managed to escape severe illness is a mystery; his 
constitution, it may be said, seemed “ made to last.” On such 
occasions his endurance was generally rewarded by some exciting 
adventure, or by the acquisition of some rare specimen of which 
he had long been in search. 
