354 



Notes and Comments. 



in 1842, and became curate of Burton, Salop. Soon afterwards 

 he was appointed domestic chaplain and private secretary to 

 Lord Falkland, Governor of Nova Scotia, a post which he 

 appears to have held for three years, and, in 1848, he was locum 

 tenens to the Chaplain of the Forces at Corfu. Having- visited 

 Cuba and Bermuda, and travelled all over Europe, in 1852 he 

 took up his abode at Stankhill, Budbrooke, in Warwickshire, 

 and, in 1857, he settled at Norton Curlieu. He was incumbent 

 of Wroxall from 1861 to 1881, but continued to reside at Norton 

 Curlieu. 



Natural history was one of the greatest sources of interest in 

 life to Mr. Torre. He was an ardent ornitholog-ist from his 

 earliest years. His father's rectory was within a few miles of 

 Walton Hall, the residence of Charles Waterton, and to him and 

 his writings Mr. Torre attributed his earliest taste for ornithology. 

 He had an extensive knowledge of the habits of birds, resulting 

 from long practical experience. When at Harrow, Mr. Torre 

 made a collection of local birds' eggs, which, a few years ago, 

 the writer had the privilege of inspecting, when they were in 

 a remarkably good state of preservation and colour. He also 

 compiled a bare list of the birds observed in that neighbourhood 

 between the years 183 1 and 1838, published under the more 

 ambitious title of 'List of the Birds of Middlesex'; the list 

 contains the names of 114 species, and appeared in 'The 

 Naturalist' in 1838. At Harrow he learnt the art of taxidermy 

 from Goshawk, the school tonsor. During the three years he 

 passed in Nova Scotia, he made a collection of several thousand 

 skins of birds, all which were shot and preserved by himself. 



Mr. Torre enlarged and improved the house at Norton 

 Curlieu, and laid out the grounds, planting all the trees and 

 shrubs himself. No one was allowed to destroy, or interfere 

 with, any birds on his estate, and, in the grounds he fixed up 

 a model of a church and other conveniences of all shapes and sizes 

 for the birds to build in. 



Of commanding presence and robust health, Mr. Torre 

 maintained his physical and mental faculties marvellously unim- 

 paired to the last, and exercised a lively interest in the topics of 

 the day and his favourite pursuits up to the time when nature 

 claimed her own. His only published paper is the list of birds 

 observed at Harrow, but from his notes and recollections, he 

 gave material assistance to Mr. (now Captain) G. E. H. Barrett- 

 Hamilton in the compilation of ' Harrow Birds, ' published in 1892. 



Mr. Torre presented his library of natural histor}- and sporting 

 works to the Yorkshire Club at York a few years ago. 



W. B. Arundel. 



N.-,t.iralist» 



