2 
LIFE OF DEAN BUCK LAND. 
[CH. I. 
lias quarries, collecting ammonites and other shells, which 
thus became familiar to the lad from his infancy. From 
his childhood his innate faculties for observation were 
encouraged. Writing of this early period of his life to 
the late Sir H. de la Beche, Dr. Buckland himself 
says: “ The love of observing natural objects which 
is common to most children was early exhibited by 
my aptitude in finding birds’ nests and collecting their 
eggs. I also made observations on the habits of fishes in 
the Axe—particularly flounders, minnows, roaches, eels, 
and miller’s thumbs.” 
One of William Buckland’s earliest and most intimate 
companions, the late William Daniel Conybeare (after¬ 
wards Dean of Llandaff), has noticed the peculiar con¬ 
currence of circumstances which fostered the natural 
genius of the boy. In the following extract from a 
letter written to Frank Buckland, Mr. Conybeare speaks 
of his friend’s youthful days :— 
“ All the circumstances of Buckland’s early life were 
calculated to impress that character of mind which so 
peculiarly qualified him to become the pioneer of the rising 
science of Geology, which began to unfold itself during the 
very period when his powers first acquired mature de¬ 
velopment. Those powers were, from a child, marked by 
an eager curiosity of investigation, and by resolute and 
unwearied activity of observation and research ; anything 
at all novel and striking at once attracted his eye, and 
he was discontented until he had succeeded in tracing out 
all the dependencies connected with the objects which 
attracted him, and had thus fully made out and illustrated 
their history. 
“ The very place of his birth itself did much to call his 
