vi PREFACE. 
have I covered my hand with scratches, from the prickles of 
briars and brambles, in my attempts to gain a satisfactory view 
of a nest and its contents, without causing any disarrangement, 
well knowing how great was the risk of desertion if the parent 
birds should discover anything amiss; and, when deserted, if I 
knew not the builders, a nest was valueless. How well was I 
repaid for bleeding hands, if I discovered but one point in the 
history of a species. Eggs strung on bents are rife in all 
country places; old nests are easy to be seen when the leaves 
are gone; birds are plentiful in every hedge-row, and their song 
is the burthen of the passing breeze: but to connect with 
certainty each bird with its mate; to assign it the proper nest 
and proper eggs; to learn the exact time of its arrival and its 
departure ;—all this is a study, a labour, rarely undertaken, and 
affords a pleasure akin to that which must be felt by a traveller 
exploring countries where man has not before trodden.’ Let 
the reader turn to the first chapter of the ‘ Letters of Rusticus,’ 
from which the foregoing extract is taken, and observe with 
what microscopic, yet loving and living, detail the natural 
features of the neighbourhood of Godalming are pourtrayed. 
No words can give so true an account of these ten years spent 
at Godalming as the ‘Letters of Rusticus.’ Extract after 
extract might be quoted, all to the point, and of exceeding 
interest ; but the short space which can be allowed to this brief 
memoir does not permit. 
It will be noticed that ‘Rusticus’ is here spoken of as the 
actual work of Mr. Newman. This brings forward the once- 
vexed question of the authorship of those charming ‘ Letters.’ 
To few besides the author’s near relatives has the secret 
been divulged; even Edward Doubleday, his nearest friend 
and second self, was kept in ignorance of the actual fact, 
although he, in common with most naturalists, had a shrewd 
suspicion. When the ‘Letters’ appeared in the ‘ Magazine 
of Natural History’ and the ‘Entomological Magazine’ they 
caused quite a sensation in Godalming. Written by one who 
knew Godalming so well, who was so able a writer, as well 
as so skilled a naturalist; yet no one was able to discover the 
author. After much discussion they were finally attributed to 
the late Mr. J. D. Salmon. The veil may now be withdrawn, 
