189 
THE FOTHERGILL FAMILY AS ORNITHOLOGISTS. 
HUGH S. GLADSTONE. 
( Continued from page 152 ). 
‘The second will comprehend a general view of the Northern 
Isles of Britain, both as to their natural advantages and 
political consequence. And the third will contain Collections 
made towards the Natural and Civil History of Yorkshire .’ * 
The titles of these ‘ undertakings ’ are sufficiently grandiose 
to whet one’s curiosity as to what was their ultimate fate: I 
have, however, not been able to discover anything about them. 
Charles Fothergill (H) is saidf to have been the Author of The 
Wanderer, 1803, and Canada the last hope of England, pub- 
lished in Canada in 1839 or I 84 °» but I have never seen copies 
of these books, which are not in the British Museum Library. 
He also assisted his uncle, James Forbes, in the publication 
of his Oriental Memoirs, 4 vols., 4to, 18134 
Charles Fothergill (H) is known to have carried on a 
correspondence with William Fothergill (G), his uncle, from 
1799 to 1813, extracts from which were sent by ‘ John Fother- 
gill (I), Esq., of Darlington,’ to the editor of The Naturalist, 
and duly published. § These letters are not of much interest, 
except, perhaps, one from Charles dated 16th August, 1799, 
referring to the Willow Wrens, of which he had procured 
all three, ‘ the large, middle and small Willow Wrens ’ of 
Gilbert White [viz., Wood-Wren, Willow-Wren and Chiff- 
chaff], in Askham Bogs, near York. Both Charles and his 
uncle seem to have been disciples of Gilbert White and Pennant 
to judge by their correspondence, and I therefore quote the 
* Op. cit.yp p. xvi., xvii. 
f Mr. Watson Fothergill : in litt. 4th and 30th May, 1921. 
X It is a curious coincidence that in 1820 there should have been 
published — ' by Charles Fothergill, of . Salisbury, who has made the 
management of birds his favourite study upwards of twenty years ’ — 
a little duodecimo volume of forty-eight pages, with four plates each 
comprising nine figures, with title beginning The British Bird Fancier : 
or, Bird Fancier’s Delight. Messrs. Mullens and Kirke Swann (in their 
Bibliography already mentioned) presume that this book was written by 
some bird dealer ‘ having no connection with Charles Fothergill of York,’ 
and, from investigations I have made, their presumption would appear 
to be correct. I have not been able to trace Charles Fothergill of 
Salisbury, but it is possible that local parish registers, or rate books, of 
the period, might furnish some clue to his identity which is not forth- 
coming from his British Bird Fancier. It is certainly remarkable that 
in this work the Author should refer (pp. 19, 21) to Wallis’s History 
of Northumberland, and that (p. 47) he should give an account of Rooks 
nesting on the spire of the Exchange, Newcastle-upon-Tyne from 1783 
to 1793 : these references to the north of England are, to say the least of 
it, unexpected in a book of the kind written by an inhabitant ‘ of 
Salisbury.’ 
§ The Naturalist 1854, Vol. IV., pp. 143-6 and 167-8. 
1922 June 1 
