Septembek 4, 1896.] 



SCIENCE. 



295 



From Strickland he received his first in- 

 struction in scientific ornithology. He be- 

 gan his collection of bird skins at Oxford, 

 making British skins for himself and buy- 

 ing foreign species at a shilliug apiece, 

 whenever he could get to London for a run 

 among the bird shops. 



After taking his degree he remained at 

 his college in Oxford for two years, devo- 

 ting his time principally to natural history. 

 He also gave much attention to modern 

 languages, studying with masters at home 

 and always visiting the Continent in vaca- 

 tion time, and thus soon made himself 

 familiar with French, German and Italian. 



At this period of life he was often in 

 Paris, where he made the acquaintance of 

 the great ornithologist, Prince Charles Bona- 

 parte, at whose house, until his death in 

 1858, he was a frequent visitor. 



In 1851 he entered himself for the bar. 

 In 1855 was admitted fellow of Corpus 

 Christi College, and having in the previous 

 June completed his legal education and 

 been called to the bar by the Honorable 

 Society of Lincoln's Inn, he went the West- 

 ern Circuit for several years. 



In 1856 he made his first journey across 

 the Atlantic, in company with the Rev. 

 George Hext, a fellow collegian. Leaving 

 England in July, they went by New York 

 up the Hudson to Saratoga, and there at- 

 tended the meeting of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science. 

 After that they went to Niagara, and thence 

 through the Great Lakes to Superior City, 

 at the extreme end of Lake Superior. 

 Here they engaged two Canadian ' voya- 

 geurs ' and traveled on foot through the 

 backwoods to the upper waters of St. Croix 

 Eiver. This they descended in a birch- 

 bark canoe to the Mississippi. Mr. Sclater 

 subsequently published an account of this 

 journey in the third volume of '■ Illustrated 

 Travels.' 



Returning by steamboat and railway to 



Philadelphia, he spent a month in that city 

 studying the splendid collection of birds 

 belonging to the Academy of Natural Sci- 

 ences, where he had the pleasure of the 

 company of John Cassin, Joseph Leidy, 

 John Le Conte and other then well-known 

 members of that institution. He returned 

 to England shortly before Christmas, 1856. 



For some years after this he lived in 

 London, practicing occasionally at the bar, 

 but always at work on natural history. 

 He was a constant attendant at the meet- 

 ings of the Zoological Society, of which he 

 was elected, in 1850, a life member, and in 

 1857 a member of the Council. 



In January, 1859, he made a short ex- 

 cursion to Tunis and eastern Algeria, in 

 company with Mr. E. C. Taylor and two 

 other friends. They visited the breeding 

 places of the vultures and kites in the in- 

 terior and gathered many bird skins, re- 

 turning to London at the end of March. 



At this time Mr. D. W. Mitchell, secre- 

 tary of the Zoological Society, was about to 

 vacate his post in order to take charge of 

 the newly instituted Jardin d'Acclimata- 

 tion in Paris. For this position Mr. Sclater 

 was selected by Owen and Yarrell, then 

 influential members of the Council. He 

 was formally elected to it April 30, 1859, 

 and has been reelected annually ever 

 since. 



He found it necessary to devote himself 

 entirely for three years to the reorganization 

 of the affairs of the Society. The * Proceed- 

 ings ' and ' Transactions ' were at that time 

 several years in arrears — they were brought 

 up to date ; the ' Garden Guide,' which was 

 out of print, was rewritten ; the large staff 

 at the gardens was rearranged and divided 

 into departments under the superintendent, 

 and various other reforms were introduced. 



For thirty-five years his life has been al- 

 most entirely spent in work connected with 

 natural history. 



In 1874, when his brother accepted office 



