THE COTTAGE GARDENER AND COUNTRY GENTLEMAN’S COMPANION.— September 33,1856. 465*' 
mentioned. —First, Mrs Mills, Bisterne. (White Polands.) Second, 
Mrs Mills, Bisterne. (Black Cochins.) Highly Commended — Wm. 
Manfield, jun., Dorchester. (Unknown.) Commended—Countess 
Dowager of Macclesfield. (Japan Silky Fowl Bantams.) Mrs Mills, 
Bisterne. (Andalusians.) 
Class 4l .—Geese (Of any breed).—First, John K. Fowler, Prebendal 
Farm, Aylesbury. Second, Wm. Manfield, jun., Dorchester. Highly 
Commended — Mrs Henry Fookes, Whitchurch. T. P. Edwards, 
Lyndhurst. Commended—Wm. Manfield, jun., Dorchester. 
Class 42.— Ducks (Aylesbury).—First, John K. Fowler, Prebendal 
Farm, Aylesbury. Second, Henry Loe, jun., Appuldcrcombe, Isle of 
Wight. 
Class 43.—Ducks (Rouen).—First, Mrs Henry Fookes, Whitchurch. 
Second, Jas. Crane, jun., Tolpuddle, Highly Commended—John K. 
Fowler, Prebendal Farm, Aylesbury. 
Class 44.— Ducks (Any other variety).—First, James Crane, jun., 
Tolpuddle. (Buenos Ayres.) Second, John K. Fowler, Prebendal 
Farm, Aylesbury. 
Class 45.— Turkeys (Of any breed).—First, Lady Margaret Mac¬ 
donald, Woolmer. Second, Mrs Henry Fookes, Whitchurch. Highly 
Commended—William Manfield, jun., Dorchester. 
THE LATE WILLIAM YARRELL. - 
Eari.y on Sunday morning, August tlie 17th, at Yar¬ 
mouth, whither he had gone from London by sea for 
a summer trip, died suddenly of ossification of the heart, 
at the age of seventy-two, the good old British sports¬ 
man and naturalist, William Yarrell. Our roll of English 
zoologists does not boast of a name more honoured for 
his researches into the habits of the fauna of his country, so 
far as regards birds and fishes, or more respected for his 
uprightness and genial companionship, than that of the 
lamented Yarrell; and the style in which the results of his 
agreeable labours have been published to the world presents 
a model of kindly, unobtrusive diction, choice woodcut 
illustration, and typographic neatness. The life of William 
Yarrell was not one of much variety. Born in 1784, in 
Duke-street, St. James’s, where his father carried on the 
business of a newspaper agent, his only removal was 
to a neighbouring house at the corner of Ryder-street. 
There he continued the business in partnership with a 
gentleman whose father had been also a partner with 
Yarrell’s father, and in this house he dwelt unmarried, with 
natural history collections about him, till the day of his 
death. He entered the banking-house of Herries, Farquhar, 
and Co., as clerk, in 1802, hut returned at the end of six 
months to his father. Mr. Yarrell’s taste for natural 
history pursuits began first to develope itself in a love of 
angling. The streams in the vicinity of London often 
tempted him forth, as a boy, to a day’s fishing; and the 
perusal of old Izaak Walton’s charming letters served to 
divert his pastime into the valuable practical direction 
which it subsequently took. From fishing, William Yar¬ 
rell was led to the sport of shooting, and became one of the 
first marksmen of his day. He formed in early life an in¬ 
timacy with Manton, the famous gunmaker, and with 
Shoobridge, the well-known hatter of Bond-street, better 
known, however, among sporting men as an unerring shot. 
Shoobridge and Yarrell made frequent excursions into the 
country together, and shot in company for many years. 
Shoobridge shot in matches, and not unfrequently for heavy 
stakes. Yarrell, who was thought by some to be the 
better shot of the two—for he would bring down a dozen 
brace of sparrows from the trap, with his double-barrelled 
Manton, running—never wagered beyond shooting for a 
gun. a pointer, or a sporting picture. During this time 
William Yarrell had been forming valuable collections of 
fishes, birds, and birds’ eggs, studying and making notes of 
their habits, when, at about the age of forty, he may be said 
to have laid down the rod and gun for the pen. On the 
25tlr of March, 1835, he addressed to the conductors of the 
Zoological Journal his first composition, consisting of 
“Notices of the Occurrence of some Rare British Birds, 
observed during the Years 1823, ’24, and ’25." Having 
made the acquaintance of several zealous naturalists, among 
whom we mention Vigors, Swaihson, and E. Bennett, he 
was elected, in 1825, a Fellow of the Linnrean Society, and 
in 1827 communicated to the Society’s “ Transactions ” a 
paper entitled, “ Observations on the Tracheae of Birds, 
with Descriptions and Representations of several not 
hitherto figured." Later in the same year he presented to 
the Royal Society a paper “ On the Change in the Plumage 
of some Hen-Pheasants,” which was printed in the “ Phi¬ 
losophical Transactions.” Notwithstanding, however, the ; 
Council of the Royal Society considered Mr. Yarrell’s paper ; 
worthy of a place in their “ Transactions,” the author was 
never elected to the Fellowship. He was recommended for 
election, but, owing to the corrupt practice of disregarding i 
the scientific claims of gentlemen connected with trade, 
it was intimated to Mr. Yarrell that he had no chance of 
success, apd he withdrew his certificate. In 182!) Mr. 
Yarrell communicated to the Linn a’, an Society the “ Descrip- | 
tion of a New Species of Tringa, killed in Cambridge- j 
shire, new to England and Europe; ” and the following 
year two papers “ On the Organs of Voice in Birds,” and ; 
“ On a New Species of Wild Swan taken in England.’’ ■ 
About this time the Zoological Club of the Liunsean 
Society, of which Mr. Yarrell had for six years been an ! 
active .member, became the foundation of the present 
Zoological Society, and his exertions for this Society’s welfare i 
-were continued with unremitting zeal to the last* He was 
a frequent contributor to its “ Proceedings,” and the three 
following papers, read in 1833 and 1835, were selected for 
publication in its “ Transactions :’’—“ Observations on the 
Laws which appear to influence the Assumption and 
Changes of Plumage in Birds;” “Description, with some 
additional Particulars, of the Apteryx Australis of Shaw j 
and “ Some Observations on the Economy of an Insect 
destructive to Turnips." To the Linnfean Society’s “ Trans¬ 
actions ” he further contributed, in 1834, “Description of 
the Organ of Voice in a New Species of Wild Swan,” and 
“ Description of three British Species of Fresli-water Fishes, 
belonging to the genus Letwiscus," and in 1853 a paper 
“ On the Habits of the Great Bustard.” His last and only 
remaining paper, published by the Linncean Society, “ On 
the Influence of the Sexual Organ in Modifying External 
Character,” appeared during the present year, in the newly- 
arranged Journal of Proceedings. Mr. Yarrell contributed 
largely to the Zoological Journal and to the Annals and 
Magazine of Natural History, including, among other sub¬ 
jects, the discovery, in conjunction with Mr. Jesse, of 
the oviparous propagation of the eel, and of the specific i 
identity of the whitebait; but the grand work of his life ! 
was the production, during the years 1830-40, of the two 
well-known “ Histories of British Birds and British Fishes,” | 
published hy Mr. Van Voorst, who lived on terms of great 
friendship with him, and was selected by him as one of his ; 
executors. In 1849 Mr. Yarrell was elected a Vice-Presi- 
dent and Treasurer of the Linntean Society, and the members 
subscribed for a portrait of him in oil, which is suspended I 
in the Society’s meeting-room. Notwithstanding his retired j 
manners and" extremely punctual habits, Mr. Yarrell was a j 
frequent diner-out and jovial companion at table. He sang ! 
a capital song, and was a constant attendant at the theatre, ! 
generally selecting, with the gusto of a dilettante , the front 
row of the pit. In the days of the eldet: Mathews he would j 
manage to get the songs of the great mimic, in spite of the ! 
rapidity of their utterance, by taking doivn the alternate 
lines one night, and filling in the others on the next. A ! 
song of Dibdin’s w-e heard him sing only recently with ad¬ 
mirable spirit and pathos. He seldom missed attending the 
Linnsean Club dinners and country excursions, and was at 
all times among the liveliest of the party. In the present 
year he took an active part in the Linntean excursion to 
Guildford. In addition to his collection of British natural 
history, Mr. Yarrell possessed a valuable library of books on 
the subject, but he has not made any public bequest of j 
either. His remains have been brought to London, and will 
he buried with those of his family at Bayford, in Here¬ 
fordshire.— ( Literary Gazette. ) 
DARESBURY AND FRODSHAM FARMERS’ 
CLUB, COMBINED WITH THE RUNCORN 
LOCAL POULTRY EXHIBITION. 
This, held at Runcorn on the 18th, proved a very in- ■ 
teresting and excellent Exhibition, most of the principal : 
exhibitors of poultry competing, and the general arrange¬ 
ments were carried out most efficiently by a very painstak¬ 
ing committee; hence all the visitors present were perfectly 
well satisfied. As a natural consequence of the season, 
many of the adult specimens were somewhat out of condi- ! 
j. 
