XXU MEMOIR OF THE LATE 



and then enclosed in an envelope. Ur. Ball, who for years had some of 

 those communications almost every week, received one complaining that 

 a question in the previous letter had not been answered. On seaixhing 

 for the " letter," which had been overlooked, Dr. Ball at last found it in 

 his pocket-book, between the folds of a bank-note, into which it had 

 accidentally chopped, and where, from its diminutive size, it had lain 

 concealed ! 



This habit of writing upon scraps of paper, to the great embarrassment 

 of editors and printers, is one to which several well-known authors have 

 been addicted. We may refer as examples to the " paper-sparing Pope," 

 whose translation of the Iliad, preserved in the British Museum, is writ- 

 ten on the backs and other blank portions of letters ; and to Sharon 

 Turner, whose third volume of the " Sacred History of the World" is 

 written on fragments of letters and notes, and on covers of periodicals. 



The first volume of the "Natural History of Ireland" appeared in 

 1849 ; the second in 18.50; the third in I80I. The reviews of it were, as 

 might be expected, of a very favourable character ; and letters relating to 

 it, from many of j\Ir. Thompson's friends and correspondents, afforded 

 him much pleasure. He valued very highly the good ojiinion of those he 

 really esteemed. 



The volumes contained a large amount of popular matter relative to 

 the instincts, habits, and economy of our native birds, to which they were 

 exclusively devoted ; and among these were occasionally interspersed 

 graphic descriptions of localities or of picturesque groups, such as Hoi'n 

 Head, County Donegal, vol. iii. p. 223 ; Grotto of Egeria, near Rome, 

 vol. i. p, IJGT ; and Grouse Shooting Scenes in the Highlands, vol. ii. pp. 

 51 and oj. As might have been expected, they were largely quoted from 

 in the periodical literature of the day. Perhaps no one passage was more 

 frequently republished than the one (vol. i. p. 11) in which the author 

 dwells on the effects produced on the birds of a district by the industrial 

 operations of man. 



He had himself expressly stated that the volumes on Birds were " put 

 forward merely as supplementary to the several excellent works already 

 published on British Ornithology." Viewed merely in that light, they 

 were welcomed as a very desu'able addition to the stores left by preceding 

 writers. When considered apart from other works, and simply as an ex- 

 ponent of what was known to Mr. Thompson respecting the Birds of Ire- 

 land, the philosophic mind found in its pages fresh food for speculation, 

 especially concerning those great laws which regulate the distribution of 

 animal life. The pains-taking care of its author was visible on every 

 page ; and, if some reader should now and then have wished that dates, 

 localities, and names were of less frequent occurrence, by others these de- 

 tails were regarded as very desirable. To the future explorer of the Na- 

 tural History of Ireland, such evidence will be of the highest value. It 

 will satisfy him that Thompson has furnished a true record of the Irish 

 Birds, as known to him and his correspondents. From the basis thus 

 established, he may proceed to rear his structure with pei'fect confidence 

 that he builds on a good foundation, and that, if his own observations be 

 correct, and embrace a sufficiently wide range, he may contrast the then 

 existing Birds of Ireland with the species which now belong to it. 



It was during the time Mr. Thompson was engaged preparing this 

 work for the press, that he became interested in the welfare of " The 

 Belfast-Man" — Francis Davis — author of "Poems and Songs," published 

 in Belfast, in 1847. They were composed, as the preface informs us. 



