1883-92 RELIC OF CUVIER 249 



4 Of the many recognitions, by my Sovereign, 

 by her Prime Minister, by my late masters the 

 Trustees of the British Museum of Natural 

 History, and by my fellow-officers, not any has 

 yielded me more heartfelt gratification than the 

 precious relic you have been pleased, with most 

 estimable and characteristic forethought, to enrich 

 me with. It will be worn by me whilst I live, and 

 I believe it will be cherished by my son and his 

 sons as evidence of their regard of the representa- 

 tive of the name they have so often heard me 

 mention with grateful reverence. 



' There are fashions of thought as well as of 

 dress. A somewhat prevailing one, to which you 

 allude, I have occasionally referred to as the 

 Biologie conjecturale ; but the science of living 

 things which will endure is based on the foun- 

 dation of the fait 's positifs made known, with the 

 true methods of their discovery, in the immortal 

 works of Georges Cuvier.' 



In his declining years it was one of Owen's 

 favourite amusements to observe the habits of 

 the birds which frequented his garden. The 

 notes which he made upon his feathered visitors 

 were, as he writes in his diary, ' communicated to 

 my friend Robinson's weekly paper " The Garden" 

 in successive numbers.' A few extracts from 

 these ' Notes on Birds in my Garden,' which 

 were published in 1883, throw light on Owen's 

 interests and occupations. The number of birds 



