OBITUARY NOTICES. 
135 
afterwards ripened into a profound knowledge of the science 
of Ornithology, for which, later, he was justly held in repute. 
In the formation of our Society, in 1869, Mr. Southwell took 
a prominent and active part, and remained a member up to 
the time of his death. For many years he acted as its 
Honorary Secretary, and was twice honoured by being 
elected to the Presidential Chair, viz., in 1879 an d a g a i n in 
1893. Few of the present members realize to what extent 
the Society has been indebted to him during the past forty 
years for the ungrudging and invaluable help he has at all 
times given in preparing the annual Transactions. In 
addition to numerous papers, over 100 in all, on a great variety 
of subjects, from his own pen, Mr. Southwell assisted in 
editing the papers of other contributors ; and for the greater 
part of the life of the Society, he was a member of the Journal 
Committee. 
Always an indefatigable worker, a voracious reader and, 
withal, a most methodical man, and one who would spare no 
pains in collecting detailed information, Mr. Southwell 
possessed essentially the qualities of a compiler ; and on 
referring to his long list of contributions to our Transactions, 
it will be seen that they are mostly the result of collected 
research. Especially interested was he in the Ornithological 
Archaeology of his county, as witness his papers on the Decoys 
in Norfolk, the St. Helen’s Swan-pit, etc. ; and his knowledge 
of the topography and archaeology of the Fen District was 
unrivalled. It was this spirit for research into the past that 
prompted him to publish, in 1892, Sir Thomas Browne’s 
‘ Observations on the Natural History of Norfolk,’ which 
he edited from the MSS. in the Sloane collection of the 
British Museum and in the Bodleian Library, Oxford, and 
which he elucidated with many valuable and critical notes. 
He was largely assisted in this work by the late Professor 
Newton, F.R.S. 
In 1872 he was elected a Fellow of the Zoological Society, 
and in 1881 a member of the British Ornithologists’ Union. 
In 1879 he edited a second edition of Lubbock’s ‘ Launa of 
Norfolk ’ — originally published in 1845 — to which he added 
much useful information in the form of Notes. 
