THE NATURALISTS OF LAKELAND XXVII 



accompany me to the Surrey Zoological Gardens ; indeed I feel 

 myself under very great obligations to him for his kindness 

 and politeness to me.' x Heysham long continued to correspond 

 with Yarrell, to whom he invariably reported such facts of 

 avian interest as came under his notice. Thus a draught ad- 

 dressed to Yarrell on November 14, 1845, referred to the 

 immigration of Loxia bifasciata into Lakeland. ' Since my last 

 note,' writes Heysham, ' I have seen the White-winged Cross- 

 bill killed in this vicinity on the 1st inst. It is apparently a 

 female, of the 2d or perhaps of the 3d year ; the patches of 

 white on the wings being of considerable size.' Heysham 

 possessed an extraordinary knowledge of specimens of birds 

 and eggs, considering that he spent almost his whole life at 

 Carlisle, rarely visited London, and never apparently saw any 

 continental museums. His experience appears to have been 

 derived to some extent from the large series of specimens sent 

 for his inspection by such dealers as Eobert Dunn or Mr. 

 William Proctor. It was Dunn who wrote to Heysham on the 

 13th of April 1842, to offer him two skins of the Great Auk. 

 The letter in question commences, s Having just received two 

 uncommon beautiful skins of the Alca impennis shot in Iceland 

 last year and beautifully got up for stuffing, and as I consider 

 them cheap, I thought it my duty to acquaint you among the 

 rest of my customers.' Dunn asked the sum of £7, 10s. a-piece 

 for his skins of the Great Auk, but Heysham did not secure 

 them. Mr. Proctor wrote from Durham University Museum on 

 February 18, 1840, to submit a price list of some eggs which 

 were then expected to arrive from Iceland, vid Copenhagen. 

 One of the last items in this list is brief, but speaks volumes : 

 ' Great Auk, £3. A draught of one of Heysham's letters to 

 Proctor shall here be quoted verbatim, in order to show the 

 stores of information which the Carlisle Naturalist brought to 

 bear upon European oology. 



'Carlisle, July 20, 1841. 



' Sir, — It was not my intention to have unpacked your eggs 



1 Yarrell paid a surprise visit to Heysham in September 1838, but 

 found him out. Heysham was greatly chagrined when he found his 

 friend's card lying on his table. 



