428 THE ZOOLOGIST* 



MEMOIR OF THE LATE CECIL SMITH, J.P., F.Z.S. 



By the unexpected and somewhat sadden death of Mr. Cecil 

 Smith, of Lydeard House, Bishop's Lydeard, near Taunton, 

 1 The Zoologist ' has lost an old and valued contributor, and the 

 ranks of British ornithologists a most useful ally in the West of 

 England. 



The deceased naturalist had gone to Guernsey for his health, 

 and for a short time seemed to improve, but unfortunately he 

 caught a chill, which aggravated some previously existing form 

 of lung disease, and terminated fatally almost before any serious 

 danger was apprehended. 



Mr. Cecil Smith was born at Bishop's Lydeard in May, 1826, 

 and consequently was in his sixty-fourth year at the time of his 

 death. He was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, where 

 in 1848 he took his B.A. degree. In 1852 he was called to the 

 Bar, and practised on the Western Circuit until 1861, when on 

 the death of his father he withdrew from the profession, and 

 retired to his Somersetshire home, where, ever since, he has lived 

 the life of an English country gentleman. 



Always fond of Natural History, and especially devoted to 

 Ornithology, Mr. Cecil Smith spent some years in collecting 

 information about the birds of his county, an account of which 

 he published in 1869, under the title of ' The Birds of Somerset- 

 shire.' Having married a Guernsey lady, Miss Carey, he paid 

 occasional and prolonged visits to that island, and amused himself 

 by noting the occurrence there of every species of bird he could 

 see, or hear of on good authority. What was at first a mere list 

 became gradually filled out with details, until at length, in 1879, 

 he published a second volume entitled * The Birds of Guernsey 

 and the neighbouring Islands, Alderney, Sark, Jethou and 

 Herm,' which was especially useful to ornithologists as being the 

 first really good account of the birds of the Channel Islands 

 which had then appeared. It was reviewed in * The Zoologist ' 

 for 1879, p. 387. 



From 1863, after he had settled down to the real enjoy- 

 ment of a country life, Mr. Cecil Smith was a constant reader of 

 this Journal, to which he gradually became a pretty frequent 

 contributor. Looking through the Index to Authors' names 



