80 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



This contribution makes the last Smithsonian Report a not- 

 able publication. 



Lord Lilfbrd : a Memoir, hy his Sister. Smith, Elder & Co. 



This is not to be considered a full biography, especially from 

 the ornithological standpoint; it is the worthy tribute of a 

 sister to the memorj^ of a naturalist brother, and " to keep such 

 a memory alive in the family to which he belonged." Lord 

 Lilford must have had an unique and lovable personality, which 

 impressedj amongst others, the late Bishop of London, who wrote 

 an introduction to the volume, and who bore this witness : — " To 

 me he was a man of remarkable attainments and singular charm, 

 a man whom to know was a life-long possession." The limita- 

 tions and compensations of his existence are fully set forth, and 

 yet we rise from the perusal of the volume with the opinion that 

 his life was, on the whole, a happy on§. There were shadows, 

 but not suflScient to quench a sunlight that pervades the letters 

 which occupy the larger portion of the book; 



There can be no doubt, as we read these ^ages, that Lord 

 Lilford was not only an ornithologist at heart, but possessed a 

 desire to do all in his power to further the interests oithe science. 

 His " Coloured Figures of the Birds of the British li^lands " is 

 a publication which will prove a permanent monument to his 

 memory, whilst his collection of living birds must have afforded a 

 zoological lesson. The accident of high social position, with its 

 wealth and leisure, he abundantly proved could be made a 

 dominant factor in the study of nature, and we feel that the only 

 discordant chord in the whole of a most charming and genial 

 narrative is a quotation from the letter of the rector of the local 

 living, who, speaking of the universal grief at the death of Lord 

 Lilford, remarks, "Even the Radical papers have kindly notices." 

 Why not ? Surely politics are outside Zoology, and are largely 

 the creation of environment. We neither particularly want to 

 see Radical Peers nor Tory village artisans, the sense of pro- 

 portion is ^ charm in life. But the subject of this memoir is 

 outside these narrow restrictions; judged as an ornithologist by 

 naturalists, or by the " abiding power of character," as expressed 

 by the late Bishop, he strikes a deeper sympathy than can be 

 expressed in the terms of a parliamentary jargon. 



