and his Ornithological Work. 719 
this thirst for excitement in birds-nesting, trapping, or hand¬ 
ling the forbidden gun are common more or less to all boys, 
but young Boyd Alexander's devotion was more than these 
and shewed itself in his precocious knowledge of such books 
as White's “ Selborne " and “ Bewick," in the wonderful 
neatness and method of the arrangement of his egg-collec¬ 
tion, and in a systematic diary of the migrations and habits 
of the birds in the neighbourhood of his home. 
At school he was not particularly fond of games, but, 
although doubtless he employed many a trick to get off and 
to range the country-side for birds’ nests, he was by no means 
unathletic or unmanly, for he represented Radley College 
in the public schools boxing-competition the same year that 
his twin brother, Robert, was her champion for gymnastics. 
An incident of Alexander's boyhood is perhaps worth 
relating as characteristic of the future explorer and ornitho¬ 
logist, in that it shews in the boy those qualities of pluck 
and devotion to a hobby which were such conspicuous features 
in the nature of the man. He could not have been more 
than eleven at the time when he and his two brothers had 
come home for the holidays, and all, wild with the joy of 
their first day of freedom, were scouring the place in an eager 
search for birds'-eggs. Not much luck had attended their 
efforts, though many risks of broken limbs had been taken, 
until evidence of a swallows' nest was discovered inside the 
roof of a disused barn. The door was locked, and how to 
force an entrance was the problem still occupying the 
energies of the brothers outside, when to their surprise an 
exulting shout came from Boyd up in the roof, and to this 
day it is not known how he had effected an entrance. But 
his triumph was not destined to last long, for just as he had 
reached his hand up into the nest to count the eggs, there 
was a horrible crash among the rafters, quickly followed by 
a sickening thud upon the ground. Then for a few moments, 
that to the brothers outside seemed an age, there followed a 
dead silence presently broken by moans. Frantically 
they kicked at the door and tore at the boarding in order 
to get to his rescue, but with no success, and to add to 
