22 
The Irish Naturalist. 
February, 
Royal Zoological Society of Ireland, in whose company he 
collected many birds on the Boyne. In 1878 he read a paper 
before the Royal Dublin Society on " Ccrvus Megaceros,^' and 
in the same year contributed another to the British Association 
on this extinct mammal in its relation to the lacustrine 
deposits of Ireland.^ He learnt the rudiments of taxidermy 
from a Mr. Kvatt of Mount I^ouise, Co. Monaghan. Edward 
became an apt pupil to his father, and at the age of 10 could 
set up small birds in a " kind of way." 
In i860 Mr. Williams, senior, left Drogheda and moved to 
Westmoreland Street, Dublin, and soon became a member of 
the old Dublin Natural History Society. My first acquaintance 
with his son Kdward was in 1867 or '68, when a notice appeared 
in the press that Harelda glacialis, the I^ong-tailed Duck, had 
recently been shot at Ringsend and was on view at Mr. 
Williams', Bachelor's Walk, where the business was then carried 
on. At that time there was really no one in Dublin capable 
of preserving a bird decently. Richard Glennon of Suffolk 
Street was dead, and Glennon at his best was not within a 
measurable distance of young Williams, who quickly made a 
name for himself. Specimens of his artistic skill were ex- 
hibited in the shop window side by side with his father's hats. 
One could readily perceive that Mr. Williams, senior, while 
proud of his son's achievements, was most reluctant to permit 
his own occupation to be interfered with, for Edward was 
anxious to banish the hats and fill the window with birds. 
Shortly after 1868 No. 3 Dame Street was taken, and here 
the struggle between hats and birds was renewed, with the 
result that there were two windows, one for hats, another for 
birds. Gradually, however, the birds crossed the frontier, 
and in the early seventies (fortunately for Irish naturalists) 
the birds, assisted by the beasts and fishes, swept their enemies 
the hats away altogether, and when another change of resi- 
dence was made to the adjoining premises. No. 2 Dame Street 
(where the business is now carried on)'^ the entire front was 
* Printed in extenso in Geological Magazine^ 1881* 
^ And will be continued by Kdward Williams' younger brother and 
Co -partner, Mr. W. Williams. 
