EARLY ORNITHOLOGIST 8. 377 



to ascertain the nature of their food, measure their skins, in- 

 vestigate their changes of plumage, trace their distribution, and 

 describe their eggs, but they paid profound attention to both the 

 muscular sj^stem of birds and their osteology. They were 

 nothing if not thorough in their devotion to our beloved science. 

 The attainments of these men were all the more remarkable, 

 because for the most part they enjoyed no advantages of birth. 

 Turner, Belon, and Gesner were all poor men, who fought their 

 way to the front by sheer pluck and indomitable industry. Turner 

 was born beside a Morpeth tannery about 1507 ; Pierre Belon 

 belonged to some obscure household in the humble hamlet of 

 Soulettiere, in Maine, and seems to have been about ten years 

 junior to Turner. Conrad Gesner, a beautiful character, was 

 born and bred in the old town of Zurich. He was born on the 

 26th of March, 1516. Ursus and Barbara Gesner, his parents, 

 were plain working people. They had a large family to support 

 upon a very meagre pittance. Ulysses Aldrovandi was of noble 

 parentage, but he too had to learn the bitterness of trying to 

 accomplish scientific work with an empty purse. Of dear old 

 Turner we have already spoken at some length, but perhaps the 

 indulgence of the reader will permit a further reference to the 

 father of British zoology. He was a rough, rugged north- 

 countryman — one of those blunt uncompromising men who wish 

 to carry everything their own way, and lack patience for the 

 views of those who differ from them. But if Turner had the 

 misfortune to be a bigoted and determined reformer, he was 

 thoroughly genuine in his professions, and he atoned for all 

 errors of judgment by a life of pain and prolonged exile. His 

 marriage with Mistress Jane Ander increased his difficulties. 

 There is a note of pathos in the reference which is contained in 

 one of his letters to Master Oicell : — *' My chylder haue bene fed 

 so long wt hope that they ar very leane, i wold fayne haue the 

 fatter if it were possible." 



Pierre Belon's boyhood is a sealed book, but we know that 

 his singular ability and devotion to learning secured for him the 

 notice of kind patrons, who freed him from occasional pecuniary 

 embarrassments, and provided him with a sound education. He 

 was a born traveller, and seems to have been as much at home 

 among the Arabs of the desert as in the society of ambassadors 



Zool. 4th ser. vol. F., October, 2901. 2 a 



