Xll FROCEEDIXGS. 



tion, that lie was a man of sweet disposition, tender and merciful to 

 all his feathered friends, and thou^^h perhaps lie could not say yes 

 to Kiuerson's ])ointed question, "Hast thons named all the birds 

 without a gun?"-' he was incapable of any act of cruelty or neglect. 

 My ac(|uaintance with Downs commenced very soon after 

 arrival, for in him I found the very man who could tell me *all 

 about tlie wild creatures of this favoured little province, the ideal 

 home of the naturalist and sportsman. To live and camp in the 

 great backwoods of Canada had been mv ambition iu early youth, 

 and in his coiii])any I served an apprenticeship as it were, and 

 coinmenced habits of observation which have stored my memory 

 with the songs and scents of the woods and the ways of their 

 denizens during a prolonged residence of some sixteen years. 



In re-reading lately a very entertaining litlle book by Samuel 

 Smile.5, entitled "The Life of a Scotch Xaturalist," I was struck 

 by some ])oints of resemblance between its subject, Thomas Edward, 

 A. L. S., and Andrew Downs of Xova Scotia. Both were men of 

 humble oi'igin, and both became in their early lives devotees of 

 nature study as it is now popularly termed, leaving their respective 

 callings to Avork m tliat fascinating held. Both were strenuous 

 workers, ta.\idermists and collectoi-s, practical men and not over 

 much given to lil)rary lore. Both were recognized by the scien- 

 tific world as lia\ing a((|iiiic(l tlieir knowK'dgc of natural history at 

 first-hand, and though cultivatiug their own powers of observation. 

 It seems, too, that they liad uuu-h similarity of character, the same 

 honest grasping of facts and liatred of shams, the same Spartan-like 

 sim])licity of life, wjtli jnuch originality and a sturdy independence 

 whicli under all ciicumstances compels res])ect. >]dward was 

 credited with many discoveries and additions to P)ritish zoology. 

 Downs gave more impetus to forwarding the knowledge of local 

 natuial history than any Canadian before his day. Every visitor 

 desirous of acquaintance with wild life in the woods or by the 

 waters of Acadie, went to Downs for advice or reference; and few 

 returned to Europe, after a sojourn more or less prolonged in the 

 maritime provinces, without taking back either some trophy of 

 the larger game or specimens of the Ijeautiful avi-fauna of eastern 

 Canada which had parsed through our naturalist's skilful hands. 



