358 IN MEMORIAM — JOHX HANCOCK. 



the plumage of his favourite Falcons during the moult. At a 

 glance at the markings he could almost tell the whole life-history 

 of the bird. 



In easy circumstances, and having no business cares to harass or 

 worry him, he was enabled to devote his whole time to his favourite 

 pursuit, and this time during his later years he gave most ungrudgingly 

 to the Natural History Society's Museum, where his works of art 

 remain as a testimony of his skill. 



In addition to taxidermy, Mr. Hancock was also an accomplished 

 sculptor, and an artist of no mean order, one of his latest gifts to the 

 museum being a series of water-colour drawings illustrating bird-life,, 

 mostly taken from living suljjects in his younger days, to assist him 

 in accurately setting them up afterwards. 



As a landscape gardener he was a great proficient. Cragside 

 (Lord Armstrong's seat), Jesmond Dene, Newton Hall, and other 

 beautiful estates and grounds, were laid out by him. His keen eye 

 took in every turn of the landscape ; not a jutting out piece of rock- 

 work, or a fallen tree trunk, but were all taken advantage of, and 

 made to serve a purpose of his own. 



His iViend Mr. W. C. Hewitson, on his decease, left him the 

 beautiful house and grounds at Oatlands Park, near Weybridge, 

 Surrey, and from here the writer had from him probably one of the 

 last letters he ever wrote there. In it he concludes : — 



'Birds generally are very scarce here this year (1889); I mean 

 such species as we should expect to meet with in the South. . . . 

 My state of health is just about the same as it was in Newcastle. 

 Of course, I get out here every day, and breathe the fresh air, and 

 I hope it will tell in the long run.' 



But it was not to be ! On his return to Newcastle his friends 

 were grieved to see how his illness had told upon him, and how 

 feeble he had become. Towards the end of last year he took to his 

 house, and scarcely ever left it again afterwards. 



Of a shy and retiring disposition — unassuming, gentle, and most 

 courteous in his manner — where many with not half of his pretensions 

 would have pushed themselves forward and had honours showered on 

 them, Mr. Hancock preferred to remain quietly in the background. 

 Enough for him that his efforts were appreciated by his friends — he 

 asked nothing more^and it was always one of his chief pleasures to 

 impart the knowledge he had acquired toanyonevvho tookareal interest 

 in his favourite study. A true gentleman in every sense of the word, 

 he leaves a blank behind him which it is impossible to re-fill. 

 Mr. Hancock was unmarried, and leaves behind him — besides other 

 relations — a sister, the faithful companion of a life-time. — H. T. A. 



Naturalist, 



