374



Mr. H. D. Astley,



To mention only one contretemps, or rather catastrophe on

the homeward voyage, imagine the ship tossing and rolling in a big

storm. Mr. Goodfellow being woke up at 2 a.m., hurrying as far as

it was possible to hurry, in mere pyjamas from his berth to the

birds’ cabin, where he found a marble slab had given way, precipita¬

ting piles of cages in hopeless confusion on to the floor, and on to the

top of other cages, so that when he first looked upon the wreckage

he thought he had lost everything'. As it was, most were saved,

but some beautiful tanagers, whose cage was broken open by the fall,

escaped through the porthole and were seen no more, whilst a fine

bittern had one wing and leg so shattered that it could not live.

[Even one of the crew was dashed down, suffering a terrible com¬

pound fracture of a thigh bone]. So that is partly why I think

Mr. Goodfellow is a wonder.


There is no space this month to tell how the birds finally

arrived at the Zoological Gardens in Begent’s Park, of how we

helped to arrange and feed and clean ; in the midst of which I busily

took notes and names.


One’s brain buzzed, and very grateful I was when Dr.

Hopkinson appeared and helped me: and he it is who has com¬

pleted the list and most kindly written it out in due order. We

sat with books of reference about us in the library of the Zoological

Society, we peered at the birds again and again, to return once more

to the library, for this collection of Mr. Brook’s has hardly anything

that one knows or has seen before; neither can I vouch for the list

being a complete one. I have, in one or two cases, added some

further notes on colouring, etc.


Dr. Hopkinson writes : “The following is a list (as far as I

“ can remember) of the birds brought from Ecuador by Mr. Goodfellow

“ assisted by Mr. Parsons, which the Editor has asked me to com-

“ pile. We met at the collection’s arrival and hoped to have given a

“ short description of each species, but their number and bewildering

“ variety has made that an impossible task, so divided the work.

“ My share takes the form of notes on those I could remember, with

“ the addition of such references to notes and plates as I can find.

“ How few these are is some indication of the extreme rarity of the

“ greater part of the collection. I trust that fuller accounts of these



