34 
NATURE NOTES 
The story of his marriage is truly surprising. Being on his travels he stayed 
in Demerara, and made a close friendship there with a Scotch family — the 
Edmonstones of Cardross, Dumbartonshire — and a daughter being born to Mr. 
Edmonstone during his visit, Waterton asked her hand in marriage, on condition 
that she should be baptised into the Roman Catholic Church, and on attaining 
the age of eighteen, give a willing consent to accept him as a husband. The 
whimsical bargain was struck, and, more marvellous to relate, executed with every 
prospect of happiness and success. One year after the marriage his wife died. 
It was a leading object of his desire as a naturalist to entice within his land 
such animals as he wished to dwell there. His method was to prepare suitable 
and attractive lodgings. 
“ It pleased this generous landlord to possess a colony of starlings, so he 
ordered a number of holes to be bored in the old tower, behind the water-gate, 
and, incredible as it may seem, no sooner were their habitations ready, than 
exactly as many tn'enages of starlings found their way to these openings, and 
built their nests within them, establishing their nurseries, hatching their eggs, 
and rearing their young, as if in response to the proffered hospitality. Finding 
his scheme so successful he next erected a couple of towers expressly for the 
accommodation of these interesting birds, securing them immunity from the 
inroads of vermin by building them on solid stone pedestals, and with excusable 
pride he used to show to his guests the successful results of his ingenious arrange- 
ment. During my stay the Squire frequently took me to visit these towers — 
certainly not ‘ towers of silence,’ and made me acquained with a clever device 
of his own invention, whereby the interior of each little family could be seen 
and watched without in any way disturbing or alarming the feathered inmates. 
Each hole representing the entrance door was closed by a cubular stone, one 
side of which had been rounded off so that the parent bird had just room to 
enter, but when the patron wanted to make his observations the stone was easily 
removable, and such was the confidence of these birds in the paternal protection 
of their host that they never manifested the least alarm when he arrived to pass 
them under inspection. 
“ Many other birds he induced in a similar way to make Walton their home. 
Even the old tower and the ancient water-gate, though constructed as defences 
against war, and riddled with bullets, had to forget their original purpose, and 
the ivy which mantled them harboured innumerable nests where happy feathered 
parents paired, joyously and peacefully rearing their young. Here the owls he 
coveted flocked as soon as he had made ready for their reception. Indeed, he 
soon had owls of various species, by contriving such abodes as each according to 
its special habits preferred, and having secured them, each colony added a new 
pleasure to his life. The Squire’s delight from boyhood had been the study of 
animal life, and none were too minute for his attention ; the valuable knowledge 
he acquired by his close observation of the nature of each creature that came 
under his ken enabled him to dissipate the extraordinary errors vulgarly acquired, 
and ignorantly propagated respecting creatures hitherto reputed mischievous, 
whom he was able thus to prove were the most valuable auxiliaries to agriculture, 
and the most useful friends of mankind. 
“ The timidity of bird-nature, and the Squire’s great love of winged creatures, 
whose affectionate recognition of his presence was one of the most wonderful 
sights I can remember at Walton Hall, suggested to him the absolute prohibition 
of the introduction of any kind of firearm within the grounds ; and, strange to 
say, when the enormous increase of rabbits and rooks rendered it a matter of 
necessity that their number should be diminished, and recourse to the co-operation 
of guns and dogs became inevitable, so entirely did the feathered inhabitants 
trust to the character of their benevolent master that they proceeded with their 
daily avocations just as if nothing unusual was going on, apparently in no way 
apprehensive that any harm could be intended to them, and quite unconscious of 
the havoc a gun could produce. The water-fowl, of which there was a beautiful 
variety, comprising some exceedingly rare and curious specimens, floated leisurely 
away from the noisy reports, and seemed to think themselves perfectly secure on 
the opposite side of the lake, while the herons — perhaps to get a better view of 
the sport — perched on the highest branches of the trees till the battue was 
over. 
