MEMOIR OF THE LATE JOHN HANCOCK. 443 



since destroyed, and his record of a day's work on Prestwick 

 Car (p. xii) will make many an ornithologist sigh for the days 

 that are no more. His discovery of the nest and eggs of the 

 Wood Sandpiper, Totanus glareola, on this piece of wild moorland 

 in June, 1853, was an event of great interest to naturalists, and 

 his record of the capture of no less than eighty-two specimens 

 of the Waxwing, Bombycilla garrula, in different parts of North- 

 umberland during the autumn and winter of 1866 — 67, shows 

 the close attention which he paid to the occurrence of rare birds 

 in his own county.* Nor should we omit to mention his account 

 of the breeding of the Tufted Duck, Fuligula cristata, in North- 

 umberland (Trans. Tyneside Nat. Field Club, vol. v. (1860—62), 

 pp. 39 — 41), and his report of the occurrence for the first time in 

 Great Britain of the Eufous-naped Nightjar, Caprimulgus rufi- 

 collis ('Ibis,' 1862, pp. 39—40), and of the Spotted Eagle, 

 Aquila ncevia, at Cresswell, on the Northumberland coast (Nat. 

 Hist. Trans. Northumb. vol. viii. p. 217). 



Charles St. John thought that the Pink-footed Goose, Anser 

 brachyrhynchus, used to breed on one of the Sutherlandshire 

 lochs, but, on Hancock accompanying him there to settle the 

 point, it was found that the birds in question were all " Grey- 

 lags," Anser fer us. 



In conjunction with his brother Albany, he contemplated 

 publishing a work on the British Birds, with plates, in quarto, 

 but this was never carried out, although he had prepared some 

 of the drawings. He was a member of the Literary and Philo- 

 sophical Society, and for some years a member of the committee. 

 He was one of the original members of the Tyneside Naturalists' 

 Field Club, a member of the Natural History Society of North- 

 umberland and Durham, and one of its vice-presidents. The 

 interest he took in its affairs is shown by the energy and 

 enthusiasm he devoted to the building of the new Museum, and 

 the munificent liberality in presenting to it his unrivalled 

 collections. 



The old Museum in Westgate Street had long become too 

 small and cramped for the collections of the Natural History 

 Society, and the project of a new building in a more suitable 

 locality originated with John Hancock. With enthusiastic 



* Nat. Hist. Trans. Northumb. & Durh. 1867, p. 281. 



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