EDITORIAL GLEANINGS. 379 



and inanimate, was much increased by the wild grandeur of the scenes 

 which he traversed, and by the novelty of 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, £3000.' At the same time he was gradually 

 collecting materials for two most valuable works, the ' Ornithological 

 Dictionary,' 2 vols. 8vo, published in 1802, and the ■ Testacea Britannica,' 

 4to, in 1803. 



" After Colonel Montagu had resided for some time with his family at 

 Alderton House, in the parish of Hullavington, he was induced, by the 

 additional income which he derived from the death of his brother James 

 (who died unmarried), to resign his commission in the Wiltshire Militia, 

 that he might be enabled to devote himself entirely to his favourite pursuits. 

 He then took up his abode at Knowle, near Kingsbridge, in the county of 

 Devon, which, being at no great distance from the sea, gave him ample 

 opportunities for following out his researches in the natural history of the 

 marine molluscs. Here he continued to reside (with occasional visits to 

 the family seat at Lackham) up to the time of his death. 



" After many other trials, in June, 1815, the Colonel had the misfortune 

 to tread upon a rusty nail, which pierced his foot and produced a wound ; 

 lock-jaw was the result, and this terminated his life at Knowle on the 20th 

 of the same month, in the sixty-first year of his age. He bore his suffer- 

 ings (which, though of short duration, were extremely severe) not only with 

 the equanimity of a philosopher, but with the fortitude and resignation of 

 a real Christian. His old and attached friend, the Kev. K. Vaughan, of 

 Modbury [Aveton Gifford. — E. E.l, who was at his bedside during his last 

 illness, having asked him where he would wish to be buried, his character- 

 istic reply was, ' Where the tree falls there let it lie.' He had always a 

 great aversion to anything like pomp and parade in the ordinary routine 

 of life, and especially in the performance of the last solemn rites. His 

 remains were therefore interred in an unostentatious manner, agreeably 

 to his own request, in the churchyard of the parish in which he breathed 

 his last." 



The following are his principal works: — 'The Sportsman's Dictionary; 

 or, a Treatise on Gunpowder and Fire Arms, &c.' London, 1792 ; reprinted 

 in 1803, 8vo. ' An Ornithological Dictionary ; or, Alphabetical Synopsis 

 of British Birds,' 1 vol. 8vo, 1802. ' Testacea Britannica ; or, Natural 



