By the Fev. A. C. Smith. 



11 



observation be is said to have made a private path to the Church, by 

 which be could go unseen by any : and even when a young relative 

 was taken by her mother to visit him, all she ever saw of the recluse 

 was his pigtail as he darted upstairs to avoid the interview. His 

 nephew, too, recorded that he never saw him but once, and that 

 then he never spoke to him. 



These, I regret to say, are all the authentic particulars I am able 

 to collect about our author's life and family. I admit that he was 

 somewhat eccentric : but that he was at the same time a man of 

 superior intellect is evidenced by his books, and by the correct con- 

 clusions to which diligent investigation brought him : and the more 

 on that account is it to be regretted that a larger work, of which he 

 gives notice in his treatise on " Emigration of Birds," is not to be 

 found either in print or MS. And yet for the assurance that such 

 a work was written and indeed ready for the press, we have his own 

 word : for he says : — 



" Those who are desirous of being more particularly acquainted with the 

 natural history of the Snipe, and other British Birds, should consult a work en- 

 titled, A new and complete Natural History of British Birds, which, with 

 great labour and expense, we have compiled. This performance is not yet pub- 

 lished, but it is now going to the press, and will appear in a short time .... 

 A curious, particular, and accurate account is given of every bird found in Great 

 Britain, whether aquatic, migratory, or local ; and every thing relating to the 

 nature of birds in general, is treated of in as entertaining a manner as the nature 

 of the subject would allow. In short, we think we may style it, A new and 

 complete system of British Ornithology. See more of the particulars of this 

 work in the Ladies Magazine for October, 1779, page 528." (p. 36.) 



And again of the same book he says : — 



" It is a work which has lain by me finished some years, but has not yet been 

 published .... It 'will be comprised in two large volumes octavo, and 

 will speedily appear. The publication of this performance has been purposely 

 delayed, in order that it may be rendered as perfect and complete as possible." 

 (p. 21.) 



Of what interest to the British ornithologist would such a work 

 by so accurate an observer, and at that date, be ! Of what tenfold, 

 nay, of what infinite interest to the Wiltshire ornithologist ! ! Then 

 we should know something definite of the Birds of Wilts in 1780. 



