164 JOURNAL OF CONCHOLOGY, VOL. 12, NO. 7, JULY, I908. 



of his sons died abroad ; James, a prisoner of war in France ; John, 

 of the Royal Navy, killed in action ; also Frederick, above alluded, 

 to. His eldest son died in 1847. 



Though particulars of his early life are wanting, it would appear 

 that he displayed at an early age a natural aptitude for natural history 

 studies. Mrs. Crawford, alluding to the time when he was in 

 America, remarks : — 



"It was at this early period that my father first began to turn his 

 attention, whenever opportunity offered, to those pursuits of natural 

 science for which he had so strong a predilection, and for which he was 

 afterwards so much distinguished. He first commenced by shooting 

 any of the more curious American birds, a few of which he preserved 

 with his own hands, though with no further intention at the time than 

 that of presenting them to my mother, should he live to return to her, 

 as proofs of his regard and memorials of his past adventures. 



The interest whicii my father had felt from his boyhood in the 

 works of nature, animate and inanimate, was much increased by the 

 wild grandeur of the scenes which he traversed, and by the novelty ot 

 many of the feathered and four-footed tribes that inhabit them. He 

 ultimately determined, however, to limit his researches and his 

 specimens to British Birds and British Zoology generally, thinking 

 that every collection ought to be as complete as possible of its kind, 

 and being desirous that his own should be the result of his practical 

 studies in the wide field of nature. It was thus that he formed that 

 very extensive and beautiful collection of birds for which he was 

 celebrated, and which after his death was disposed of to the Trustees 

 of the British Museum for, I believe, ^3,000." 



Two of his letters to Gilbert White are extant. In that dated June 

 29th, 1789, he writes: "I have delighted in being an ornithologist 

 from infancy, and, was I not bound by conjugal attachments, should 

 like to ride my hobby to distant parts." 



Memoranda respecting the Writings of Montagu. 



His first work, " The Sportsman's Directory," dedicated to Lord 

 Porchester, was published in London in 1792. Many chapters are 

 devoted to a discussion of the penetrating power of gunpowder, and 

 notes upon shooting and flying. Amongst other things he condemns 

 rifled barrels, and gives detailed and curious directions to a duellist as 

 to the best positions in which to receive the fire of his opponent. It 

 was reprinted in 1803. 



His descriptions of three rare species of British Birds were read 

 before the Linnean Society on March ist, 1796, and published in the 

 fourth vol. of the Transactions (p. 35). They are designated Sylvia 

 sy/vicola (Wood Wren); Tringa nigricans (Phayrelarn Sandpiper); 

 and Alauda petrosa (Rock Lark). 



