Presented to the

LIBRARY of the

UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO

by

C.K. Mathews

-t'l '* ' ^

'

SYc

LOED LILFOED

9

LOBD LILFORD

THOMAS LITTLETON, FOUKTH BAKON

F.Z.S.
PRESIDENT OF THE BRITISH ORNITHOLOGISTS' UNION

A MEMOIR BY HIS SISTER

WITH AN INTRODUCTION

BY

THE BISHOP OF LONDON

ILLUSTRATIONS BY THORBURN AND OTHERS
AND ,A PORTRAIT IN PHOTOGRAVURE

' I have remarked .... that all men are, to an unspeakable
degree, brothers ; each man's life a strange emblem of every
man's ; and further, that human portraits .... are, of all
pictures, the welcomest on human walls' — Carlyle

LONDON
SMITH, ELDEK, & CO., 15 WATERLOO PLACE

1900

All rights reserved]

OCT 1991

INTRODUCTION

By THE BISHOP OF LONDON

I have been asked to add to the following Memoir
a few words by way of Introduction. I regard
it as a great privilege to be permitted to do
so ; for there are very few men who left upon
my mind so vivid an impression of a noble
character as did the late Lord Lilford. In say-
ing this I feel that I represent the great majority
of those who knew him ; and if I speak in my
own person, it is the only way in which this
common impression can be conveyed.

Lord Lilford has name and fame as an
Ornithologist, but that is beyond my power to
appreciate. To me he was a man of remarkable
attainments and singular charm, a man whom

VI LORD LILFORD

to know was a lifelong possession. The impres-
sion produced by character is, after all, more
permanent than that produced by capacity.
It passes into other lives, and is fruitful as an
influence long after the results of capacity have
perished in the using. It is the subtle yet
abiding power of character, as shown in Lord
Lilford, that I would try very imperfectly to
explain.

When first I met him we were entire
strangers, and I did not even know the conditions
within which his life was lived. I found a man
confined to a bath-chair, a man with a massive
head, of great distinction, full of intelligence,
bearing traces of that fastidiousness which goes
with culture, but chiefly attractive by gentle-
ness and a singular expression of kindliness. A
very little conversation showed me that I was in
the presence of a man of remarkable intellectual
power, and we were soon talking with a freedom
and a range of subjects which to me was quite
unexpected. I soon found that everything I

INTRODUCTION Vll

knew, or in which I was interested, was within
his ken. I had learned that he was a famous
ornithologist, but he did not call upon me to
follow him into his own subject, and preferred
general conversation. We talked of European
literature, politics, and society. We compared
notes of travel and experiences of various
peoples. He told me his own reminiscences
with point and brevity. As he did so the pathos
of his life was borne upon my mind. In some
countries he had travelled in his youthful vigour,
a keen sportsman, wandering among the people
and sharing their life and interests. To other
lands he had gone in search of health, confined
within the region of hotels, yet retaining the
same keen interest in everything, intent upon
picking up all the knowledge that he could.
But his mention of these limitations was merely
incidental ; there was never a note of complaint,
merely an explanation why he had not seen or
done more. One felt the heavy trial which it
must have been to this buoyant and vigorous

Vlll LORD LILFORD

nature to see the inexorable trammels of physical
disability slowly cutting off from it what it most
keenly enjoyed — the opportunity of personal
observation in a large sphere, the delight in
new impressions, the large sympathy with a
perpetually increasing world of nature and
man.

These are the qualities which constitute
greatness. It was impossible not to speculate
sometimes what a man with Lord Lilford's
qualities might have achieved if the circum-
stances of his life had impelled him towards a
political or literary career, instead of drawing
him from it. He was totally devoid of what is
ordinarily called ambition ; he was by nature
fastidious and reserved. The malady which
reduced him to a cripple in the prime of life,
gave early signs of its approach. He selected
permanent interests which he might preserve
despite his physical limitations, and abandoned
all the rest. He aimed at making life — as he
was compelled to lead it — as full as possible, and

INTRODUCTION IX

had no desire to wander into forbidden fields.
He had a deep sense of personal dignity, and a
genuine modesty which made him shrink from
any approach to publicity. But I remember
a letter of his to the Times about the protec-
tion of wild birds, in which he wrote with force
and intensity on a subject on which he felt
strongly. He did not, however, feel any ambi-
tion for literary distinction, even on the subject
that he had made his own. He had something
of an Athenian's sense of distinction between the
functions of a gentleman and an author. In his
writings he studiously made no claim to the
position either of a man of science or a man
of letters. He was content to be an observant
amateur, following his own bent for his own
amusement. He gave the results of his personal
observation with brevity and simplicity, through
which the character of the man penetrated,
from time to time, with significant charm. But
he entirely refused to pose, in ordinary life, as
a scientific man. To experts he would talk of

LORD LILFORP

science when it was necessary, but he would
not have anyone talk up to him on his subject,
and he shrank from even seeming to be a bore.
I think I found it almost difficult to induce
him to satisfy my curiosity about the birds he
had around him. He liked to talk of ideas, as
expressed in literature or exhibited in life ; but
he rarely passed judgment on living people.
Indeed, I know no one who was more full of the
spirit of Charity. It was pain to him to think ill
of another, and he repressed anything like harsh
judgment in others. His chivalrous respect for
women showed itself at every turn. He had
the reward which is reserved for a pure and
simple character — the unbounded affection of
young people. Few more charming pictures
linger in my memory than one of Lord Lilford
being wheeled in his chair through his gardens,
surrounded by a crowd of children, eager to ask
him questions about the birds but restrained by
the consciousness that they must not come too
near and push against him, all hanging on his

INTRODUCTION XI

lips as with quiet humour he gave them infor-
mation suited to their needs.

I need not recall such reminiscences, which
are familiar to those who knew him. A cha-
racter cannot be recalled by a multiplicity of
little traits. Its effect is in itself as a whole,
and depends on the fundamental ideas which
it expresses. It was impossible to know Lord
Lilford and not be brought unconsciously to a
clearer perception of the great issues of life.
He was a man who showed that he had been
sorely tried, and through his trials had reached
a beautiful serenity which was manifest in all
he said and did. His trials were not merely
physical ; he had suffered disappointment and
loss. But his character was founded on the
rock of deep religious principle, and he patiently
gleaned the harvest of affliction. In so doing
he was helped by the training which comes from
habits of scientific observation. He had taught
himself to recognise law outside, and so he was
able to seek the law of his own life and humbly

Xll LORD LILFORD

to obey it. He possessed the true knowledge
which engenders the spirit of discipline ; so he
never repined, or complained of the hardships of
his lot, but always dwelt on the compensations
which had been vouchsafed him — the love by
which he was surrounded, the interests which he
could always satisfy. I remember him saying
to me, ' There are those who think it dull to live
always in the country. I never move from
home, and for six months of each year I am
obliged to remain shut up indoors. But I never
find the time hang heavy on my hands. My
books, my birds, my letters, converse with
friends, and the business of my estates fill up
all my time, and leave me no moment unoccu-
pied.' Sometimes I had an opportunity of
knowing how careful he was in all that he did,
how generous and how considerate of others.
His correspondence had many ramifications, and
his beneficence was boundless. But in this, as
in all else, he was chivalrous as well as wise —
he did not like his generosity to be known.

INTRODUCTION Xlll

Lord Lilford was a remarkable example of
the refining and ennobling power of suffering on
a noble nature. Strong in the possession of a
simple faith he faced his misfortunes with quiet
heroism, so that they only served to discipline his
character into greater strength and more abundant
sweetness. They revealed to him the abiding
possibilities of life, and on these he fastened his
attention. He moved habitually in a region
where pettiness and commonplace could not
exist, and all he did and said was marked by
considerate graciousness. I remember one day
walking with Lady Lilford by the side of his
chair in the garden. In passing through a gate
the servant who was pushing his chair steered
badly, with the result that Lord Lilford's arm
came against the gatepost. Lady Lilford uttered
a cry of alarm ; I looked at Lord Lilford's face
which was twitching with pain ; but he said, ' It
is nothing, dear ; I am not hurt ; do not scold
him.' It was a trivial instance of the highest
qualities which can distinguish a man. Pain

XIV LORD LILFOED

instead of making him selfish, as is generally the
case, made Lord Lilford unselfish ; he thought
of others far before himself. Those who have
known Lord Lilford, who have seen that dig-
nified face, with the marks of suffering upon it,
but lightened by a smile which came from a
soul beyond the power of pain, have surely
learned something of the Apostle's meaning
when he spoke of the Master of all Life as
' Made perfect through suffering.'

M. LONDON.

PEEFACE

It had been hoped that a Life of my Brother,
which a distinguished naturalist had undertaken
to write, would before now have seen the light,
for a competent pen is needed to do justice to
the special interests which filled so much of
his time and thoughts. But the appearance
of this volume having been delayed, the brief
memoir which follows has been put together
for those who valued my Brother's friendship,
and to whom any record will be welcome for
his sake.

C. M. D.

Kensington : September 1900,

CONTENTS

PAGE

Introduction by the Bishop of London v

Preface xv

Letter and Verses from the Duke of Argyll . . xxi

CHAPTEE I

History of Family— Third Baron Lilford — His Diary— His
Meeting with Goethe in 1826 — Appointed Lord-in-Waiting
to William the Fourth — Two Letters from Lady
Holland's American Aunt, in 1769 and 1831— Miss Fox's
Diary at Holland House and Conversations with her
Father, 1823 to 1829— Her Marriage to Lord Lilford, 1830
— A Dinner at Lord Holland's Town House in Old
Burlington Street in 1835

CHAPTEE II

Birth of Thomas Littleton Powys, Subject of Memoir, in 1833
— Schooldays — Letter from Colonel Barclay, a School
Friend at Harrow— Christ Church, Oxford, 1852— Letters
from Christ Church friends, Godfrey Webb, and the
Rev. F. M. Stopford— Extract from Professor Alfred
Newton's Introduction to Lord Lilford's 'Coloured
Figures of British Birds '—Letters to Alfred Newton
from 1852 to 1858 (Ornithological Rambles in Spain and
Sardinia) — Origin of Ibis Magazine, .... 40

a

Xviii LORD LILFORD

CHAPTER III

l'AGB

His Marriage to Miss Emma Brandling in 1859 — Her Death
in 1884 — Succession to Title in 1861 — Aviaries built at
Lilford Hall— Visits to Spain in 1864 and 1865— Extracts
from his Diary in Spain — Letter written some Years after-
wards to his Brother, the Hon. and Rev. E. V. Powys, on
a proposed Tour in Spain — Walk through the New Forest
with Tennyson — British Ornithologists' Union in Ten-
terden Street — Letters to Canon Tristram, 1860 to 1866 —
Letter from Hon. Stephen Powys— Letters to Canon
Tristram, H. M. Upcher, Dr. Albert Gunther, Lieut. -
Colonel Howard Irby, and Lord Walsingham, from 1872
to 1884 73

CHAPTER IV

His Marriage to Miss Baillie Hamilton in 1885 — Description
of Lilford Hall— Letters from 1886 to 1896— to Mr.
"Warner, the Schoolmaster at Lilford, 1887 ; To Mervyn
Powys ; G. E. Lodge ; Mr. Cullingford, Taxidermist ;
Archibald Thorburn ; Dr. Drewitt ; Miss Schletter, Hon.
Lady Higginson, Duchess of Bedford, Rev. Canon Tristram,
Lieut.-Colonel Howard Irby, Dr. Albert Gunther, Lord
Walsingham 130

CHAPTER V

Same Extracts from Lord Lilford's later Diaries — Birth of
his Grandson in 1896 — Death in June, 1896 — Services to
Ornithology — His Liberality — Letter from H. E. Dresser
— Recollections by Dr. Drewitt 225

CHAPTER VI

Lord Lilford's Notes on his Aviaries at Lilford — Fragment of

Unpublished Article — Lepun LUforJi — Finis . . . 249

Index 283

ILLUSTRATIONS

PLATES

Lord Lilfoed Frontispiece

Photogravure

Elizabeth Lady Holland to face p. 12

From a portrait by Ronvney

Egyptian Vulture (Adult Plumage) from Spain.

At Lilford 1890 „ 70

A. Thorbum

Lilford Hall „ 132

A. Thorbum

Goshawk Besieged „ 142

G. E. Lodge

Young and Old Night Heron. At Lilford

1887 ,,146

A. Thorbinu

Summer on the Nene — The Barge ... „ 196

F. D. Drewitt

Crested Pelican sent to Lilford from the
Danube by Sir Percy Sanderson 1889.
Now at Woburn ,i 210

Photo : Duchess of Bedford

Flamingoes and Wildfowl on a Pond at

Lilford „ 212

Photo

Facsimile Letter to Dr. Gunther. . . „ 216

XX LORD LILFORD

Hobbies — Fledgelings from Nest at Lilford.

July 1886 to face p. 240

Photo

Hobbies on Falconer's Hand, September 1886.

From Nest at Lilford, July 1886. . ,, 240

Photo

Greenland Falcon, Lilford 1886 . . „ 248

Photo

Bittern, Lilford 1887. Sent from Norfolk

1865 ,,250

A. Thorburn

Tj AMMERGEYER (ADULT PLUMAGE), LlLFORD 1887.

Brought from Spain 1878 ... „ 258

A. Thorburn

Montagu's Harrier, Black Variety (with

Black Iris) from France. Lilford 1893 „ 260

A. Thorburn

Great Skua from Foula, Lilford 1891 . . .. 272

A. Thorburn

Spanish Hare — Lepus Lilfordi ... „ 280

From Specimen in Natural History Museum, South
Kensington. F. Smit

IN THE TEXT
Pen-and-ink Sketches

I'AOK

Young Lammergeyers at Roost, Lilford 1893 . . 245

Oyster-Catchers, Lilford 1892 248

Pale Variety of Honey Buzzard at Lilford 1892 . 250

Kites in Eagle House at Lilford 1892 . . . . 282

LETTER AND VERSES RECEIVED BY MY
SISTER-IN-LAW FROM THE LATE DUKE
OF ARGYLL, KG.

' Argyll Lodge, Kensington : July 14, 1896.

' Dear Lady Lilford, — May I ask your kind
acceptance of some lines I lately wrote on your
husband's most lamented death ?

' Yours very sincerely,

' Akgyll.'

JUNE 1896.

Tears fall for one whom I have never seen,
Whose happy accents I have never heard ;

Yet one whose spirit ever moved with mine,
In watchful record of each tuneful bird.

Round that fair sea whose sunlit classic shores,
Send forth their millions through the vernal
air,

He ranged in youth to hail aerial bands

That fly, and light, and sing, and nestle there.

XX11 LORD LILFORD

And every note he took, and every line he
wrote,

Breathed of the beauty of the world he saw :
A world that seemed a nature like his own —

A world of love, of reason, and of law.

And when from pain, disabling with the years,
His feet could follow wandering birds no
more,

He came to settle in his English home
With friendly wings around him as before.

Here brooding doves from their deep shaded
nests,
And plumy cranes from out the heavenly
blue,
And racing things that run along the sand,
But keep the ocean ever in their view,

All watched his coming, and his careful glance
That searched their forms, and listened to
their call ;

The world of birds was round him to the last,
In those fair homes he made at Lilford Hall.

VERSES FROM THE LATE DUKE OF ARGYLL XX111

Nor failed him then — without which life is
vain —

The love of woman and her gentle care :
If peace and joy in Nature can be found,

That peace and joy to him were centred there.

LORD LILFORD

A MEMOIE
CHAPTEE I

History of Family — Third Baron Lilford — His Diary — His
Meeting with Goethe in 1826 — Appointed Lord-in-Waiting
to William the Fourth — Two Letters from Lady Holland's
American Aunt in 1769 and 1831 — Miss Fox's Diary at Holland
House, and Conversations with her Father, 1823 to 1829 — Her
Marriage to Lord Lilford, 1830 — A Dinner at Lord Holland's
Town House in Old Burlington Street in 1835.

The family of Powys is of Welsh descent, but
the origin of the surname is unknown.

' I am not able to throw any light on the
name of Powys,' writes Professor Rhys, ' but the
territory of Powys is usually divided into two
parts, known as Powys Fadog and Powys
Wynwyn. I am inclined to think that Powys
Fadog, for instance, means literally Madog's
resting place, or settlement perhaps. But I
must confess that I know nothing historically of

B

2 LORD LILFORD

any transaction or event which would go to ex-
plain that construction being put upon the name.'

It must suffice therefore to know that a
fighting, cattle-raiding, presumably Celtic l clan,'
said to trace its descent from the kings of Wales,
emerges out of darkness into a glimmer of twi-
light in the person of its representative in the
fifteenth century.

William Powys of Ludlow, born in 1464,
bears a tame Christian name, although his sur-
name, derived, we know not how, from the land on
which his forefathers dwelt, is stamped for ever as
unmistakably Welsh. From this William Powys
descended three generations of the Powys family,
undistinguished units in the great mass of for-
gotten humanity, living and dying, in common
with the majority of the human race, without
other memorial than the more or less fleeting
impress of their personality upon the minds of
friends and neighbours.

At the end of the seventeenth century we come
to a pair of Powys brothers who achieved some
measure of legal distinction, became respectively
judges of the King's and Queen's Benches, and
received knighthood at the hands of William

SIR THOMAS POWYS

the Third. Sir Littleton died unmarried. Sir
Thomas, Attorney-General in 1687 and the
younger of the two judges, married Sarah,
daughter of A. Holbech, and after her death
Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Philip Meadows.
From Sir Thomas Powys the present family of
Powys is descended.

In 1687 the attitude of the seven bishops, in
declining to allow the celebrated Declaration of
Indulgence to pass their lips, drew down upon
them the indignation of James the Second, and
in the May of 1688 the Attorney-General, Sir
Thomas Powys, was ordered to prosecute the re-
calcitrants.1 As we all know, the trial ended in
the acquittal of the rebellious seven, and the only
damage done was to the King's reputation, and
possibly to the rafters of the old Hall at West-
minster, since, as observes Clarendon, ' when the
verdict of "Not guilty" was brought in, there
was such a wonderful shout of joy that one
would have thought the hall would have
cracked.'

1 The Dictionary of National Biography observes that he
' conducted the trial with such conspicuous moderation and fairness
as to show his own personal disapprobation of the proceedings.'

b 2

LORD LILFORD

Up to 1711 Sir Thomas Powys owned a
house in Shropshire, where so many of his race
had already lived, but in the above-named year
he was induced by a legal friend, Mr. Ward of
Wadenhoe, to inspect the neighbouring property
of Lilford Manor. The untried attractions of
Northamptonshire, or the temptation of residence
near one of his most valued friends, outweighed
the known advantages of his Shropshire home,
and before the New Year's Day of 1712 had
dawned Sir Thomas was in possession of his
new Midland property.

No doubt, with regard to conditions which
man himself can mould, the Northamptonshire
of 1711 was different from the county as we
know it to-day. But there is no ' new order '
in the matter of scenery ; flat country must
remain flat country to the end of time, and
the wooded hills and valleys of Shropshire, with
the atmospheric effects which only hill and dale
can give, were conspicuously absent from the
Judge's newly chosen county.

But probably Judge Powys was not an ardent
admirer of beautiful scenery. Wordsworthians
had no existence as yet, and the broad lands

SIR THOMAS POWYS

and good pasturage of the Manor of Lilford
were of as much importance as varied hill views
or purple distances. And yet the dwellers on
flat lands who have become their lovers can tell
of willowed nooks by slow-creeping rivers, of
tangled hedgerows away from the highroad,
of coverts which the spring celandine carpets, of
the thousand small and unexpected charms of
flat scenery, which are revealed to the sympa-
thetic and endear the ' ugly Midlands ' to the
Midlander.1

The Manor of Lilford,2 once the property of
Deborah, mother of Baliol, King of Scotland,
eventually came into the hands of John Lord
Willoughby, one of the English warriors in
command at the battle of Crecy in 1346. This
distinguished soldier seems to have built a
house at Lilford, of which no traces remain.
The estate, after passing into the possession of

1 Sir Thomas died in 1719, and was buried at Thorpe -Achurch,
the parish church of Lilford. A lengthy epitaph written by
Matthew Prior contains the following sentence : ' Whether he
was greater as an Advocate or a Judge is the only cause he left
undecided.'

2 For this account of Lilford I am indebted to the researches
of the Rev. Cecil Weston, Rector of Thorpe-Achurch.

6 LORD LILFORD

various owners, became in 1488 the property of
the Elmes family, who for over two hundred
years were connected with the place and neigh-
bourhood. It is to an Elmes, or possibly to two
members of the family — father and son — that we
owe the erection of the house now standing at
Lilford.

At Lilford Hall, therefore, the Powys family
took fresh root, but no record is left, at the Hall
or elsewhere, of the lives of its individual mem-
bers. The Judge's Christian name of Thomas
was passed down rigorously from father to son,
and eight eldest sons of that name have occupied
in turn the nursery at Lilford.

Thomas Powys, born in 1743, a great-grand-
son of the Judge, became member for Northamp-
ton in 1774, and was one of the batch of peers
created during the Ministry of William Pitt in
1797. The new Baron, who assumed the title
of Lilford, married in 1772 Miss Mary Mann,
a niece of Horace Walpole's correspondent, Sir
Horace Mann.

Their family consisted of twelve children,
equally divided into sons and daughters. Only
one of the sons calls for special remark. Henry

FIRST BARON LILFORI)

Powys, bom in 1788, captain in the 83rd regiment
of foot, fell at the siege of Badajoz, during the
Peninsular War in 1812.

Heroes of forlorn hopes are not made on
the spot, and the courage and self-forgetfulness
which distinguished the young soldier from the
Midlands must have had exercise in bygone
days, at home or at school. He was chosen —
to go to his death ; and the light falls on him for
a moment, as, with his doomed party, he stands
that April night on the scaling ladders raised
against the Spanish city. The first to enter, he
was also the first to fall. A marble tablet at
Thorpe-Achurch, bracketing him with his naval
brother Charles, who died of fever in the West
Indies, remains as his memorial.

In 1797 the eldest son of the first Lord
Lilford married Miss Atherton, of Atherton Hall,
Lancashire. Tradition has it that Mrs. Ather-
ton, troubled by some knotty point of law con-
nected with the property of her three daughters,
was advised by a friend to apply to Mr. Powys,
as a good expounder of legal subtleties. The
request was made and granted, and was shortly
followed by another, proceeding this time from

8 LORD LILFORD

Mrs. Atherton's quondam legal adviser. It con-
sisted of an offer of marriage to the eldest
of the sisters, by whom it was in due course
accepted. The second Lord Lilford was an
1 elegant ' Latin scholar, after the fashion of the
cultivated men of his day, and much of his
English verse does not lack melody.

Lady Lilford died in 1820, leaving, as did the
first Lady Lilford, twelve children, six bo}'s and
six girls. Taken altogether, they were a merry,
harum-scarum set, full of the lively spirits
which make — at the time and in the retrospect
— the charm of early life.

The gift of song, filtering down perhaps from
their Welsh ancestry, or imported by their
mother and grandmother from musical Lan-
cashire, was bestowed in large measure upon the
Powys children of this generation, and the house
and grounds rang with songs and choruses. It
has been said that when all the members of the
family were at home together (an event which
sometimes happened), the singers would seat
themselves one by one on the Lilford stairs,
those on the higher steps taking up some part
song, to which their companions farther down

DIARY OF THIRD BARON LILFORD 9

responded, so that a wave of melody rippled
from top to bottom of the flight.

In 1825 the second Lord Lilford died, and
the songsters were dispersed. Of the sons, the
third, Horace, became the beloved Rector of
Warrington, and in 1854 Bishop of Sodor and
Man ; Henry, a major in the 60th Rifles, was
the founder of the admirable institution known
as the Soldiers' Daughters' Home ; while the
youngest, Charles, with the 9th Lancers saw
honourable service in India. Of the daughters,
two found their homes north of the Tweed,
and the others were settled in quiet country
parsonages.

My father, Thomas Atherton, was born in
1801, and succeeded his father in 1825.

In 1826-27, I see in my father's diary that
he went with one of the Listers for a portion of
the ' grand tour,' without which the education
of a young gentleman of position in those
days was supposed to be incomplete. With
the exception of a carriage accident near
Vilvoorde, which nearly precipitated the young
men into a canal, the tour seems to have been
an uneventful one. The diary contains a

10 LORD LILFORD

curious account of the chamber of justice in the
gothic Castle of Luxemburg. ' In this room a
circular table is placed: in the centre of the
table is an aperture large enough to admit a
man's head; immediately below this chamber
is the donjon, and it was the custom to raise
the unhappy prisoner by means of machinery
to the aperture in the centre of the table,
and present him suddenly in the midst of his
judges.'

At Weimar in June 1826 my father writes :
' We sent our names and a letter of introduction
from Lady Davy to Madame de Goethe, the
daughter-in-law of the poet, and received an
invitation to tea in the evening. Our hostess
received us at her tea-table in the garden at
half-past six, without form or ceremony, yet
with perfect politeness. Her conversation was
lively and entertaining, entirely void of affec-
tation, and easy and natural. She seemed
intimately acquainted with English literature,
and spoke in raptures of Lord Byron's poetry.
Goethe himself soon afterwards joined us, and
we were presented to him. In appearance he is
tall, and for a man of 75 remarkably upright.

DIARY OF THIRD BARON LILFORD II

His countenance is tine and strongly marked,
and his eyes even now are full of expression.
His conversation was easy and gentlemanlike.'

In 1827 the following account of a continental
hospital was recorded in his journal, which may
be of interest as showing that the important
matters of cleanliness and ventilation had
received attention at Munich at that period of
the century.

' Munich contains an excellent and most
perfectly regulated hospital. It is capable of
holding about 1,300 persons. The dormitories,
of which we saw two, are neatness itself : they
have eight beds, separated one from the other
by high wooden partitions. The ventilation, the
supply of water, and the attention to cleanliness
I have not seen exceeded. The pipes which
serve to convey warm air into the different
dormitories communicate with stoves on the
ground floor. All these are on Count Rumford's
plan. The ventilator is a large octangular
turret-like erection on the roof of the building,
with open valves, through which the air passes
and is conducted by large wooden pipes into the
interior of the building, where it is admitted into

12 LORD LILFORD

the different rooms by means of grates. The
charge for attendance, food, and treatment in the
best set of apartments, which are reserved for
persons who are able to pay, is about one florin
a day. This noble edifice was founded by the
late King, Maximilian Joseph.'

In 1836 my father was appointed lord-in-
waiting to William the Fourth and acted in
the same capacity to the young Queen on her
accession to the throne in 1837.

A handful of notes to my father, in the
Queen's handwriting, indicating the order of the
guests at her dinner table, were amongst my
mother's treasured relics.

Much of the shyness which had prevented
my grandfather from making the most of his
position and his talents had descended to my
father, but of his good looks and charm of
manner old friends retained a vivid impression ;
of his unfailing love and kindness to the small
inhabitant of nursery and schoolroom a grateful
heart carries the remembrance.

Some time before 1830 my father had made
the acquaintance of Miss Fox, only daughter of
Henry Vassall, Lord Holland. So much has

ELIZABETH LADY HULLAJSD.
From a Portrait bj Romney.

LETTER FROM MISS CHARITY CLARK, 1769 13

already been written about Holland House,
its kindly host, its disconcerting hostess, its
brilliant society, that I will only give on a later
page some extracts from my mother's diary.
Meanwhile I have chosen two letters from a
bundle of faded papers which lie before me,
written by Lady Holland's American aunt, one
of the beautiful daughters of Mr. Clark of New
York, the first before the American war, the
second on the eve of the passing of the Keform
Bill.

From Miss Charity ClarJc {pet. 22), of Neiv York,
to Josejpli Jelajll, Esquire, of London

' New York : March 31, 1769.

' My dear Joe, — Though it is not long since I
last wrote to you, I could not refuse the obliging
offer of my near neighbour, who promises to
deliver this himself. M. Montier is a gentleman
of fortune, who with his family has settled in
America for life, and only goes to England in
order to settle some affairs and return. I have
with impatience waited the arrival of every ship
from London, in hopes of hearing from you, but

14 LORD LILFORD

that is a satisfaction I have not had this five
months, which I assure you is not a little
mortifying to me, who so much value your cor-
respondence. I have been this winter quite a
recluse, though the town has abounded in amuse-
ments, assemblys every fortnight (the gentlemen
having excluded all rank except to the Governor's
lady). Lady More could not honour us with her
presence, because Miss More should not put her
hand in the same hat with her father's brewer,
apothecary and daughters, to draw a number.
Though the Duchess of Gordon and other fine
folks have stooped so low. There is plays twice
a week, and though my favourite amusement,
I have not seen one this winter. The amuse-
ment of an Election I could not withstand, but
stayed in town during the time it lasted : it was
so warm a one that it is said some of the party
ladies pulled caps : others I know had fits on
hearing the poor Whigs were like to loose it.
Those gentlemen Whigs chose to make a
religious election of it, declaring that if the other
party got in a frightful creature called a Bishop
would be sent for over that would throw down
the meeting house and cruelly persecute them.

LETTER FROM MISS CHARITY CLARK, 1769 15

A poor wretch who gave this as his reason for
denying his vote to Mr. Delaney and Jauncey
said he could bear to have the bell and steeple
pulled down, but when it came to the meeting
house, it was his duty to do all he could
to prevent it. Such were the ways taken to
strengthen their party, but the church proved
near three hundred too strong for them. In con-
sequence of this religious election there is a
great deal of ill blood in the City. The Whig
and the Whip, I am told, have almost expended
their fire and 'tis thought will shortly put an
end to their papers. While some individuals
are amusing themselves with religious contro-
versy, the attention of every American is fixed
on England : the last accounts from there are
very displeasing to those who wish a good under-
standing between Britain and her Colonies : the
Americans are firm in their resolution of no
importations from England.

* The want of money is so great among us
that land sells for less than half price: the
merchants have no cash to buy bills of exchange,
which are now very low : it is feared next year
the town will be filled with Bancrupts, this is

16 LORD LILFORI)

want of paper currency. The papers have
abounded with complaints from Boston of the
military and of their Governor Bernard. " May
Irish ministers who support illegal taxation be
deemed illegitimate,'' and " be excommunicated
from Heaven by St. Patrick," were two of a
number of toasts drunk by the friends of St.
Patrick on the anniversary of the Repeal of the
Stamp Act, a day celebrated with much jolity
throughout all the Colonies. Though acts as
full of oppression have succeeded it, England
may do as she pleases, the inhabitants of America
will loose their liberties with their lives. I will
give you an extract from a paper taken from the
Virginia Gazete — " What is the reason the
meeting of our assembly is put off till May ? Is
it to wait with patience to see what steps our
imperious Lords and Masters at home will be
pleased in their great wisdom to take ? Lords
and Masters, by the by, who are bought and sold
like sheep in the markets. It is well known the
country Levy cannot be laid, so as to be collected
the next year, if our Representatives do not meet
before the time now appointed which will be ex-
ceedingly inconvenient to individuals as well as

LETTER FROM MISS CHARITY CLARK, 1769 17

to the Publick in general. A plentitude of awful
sounds, rescinding and showing deference to Acts
of Parliament, will be heard on all sides. But I
flatter myself such sounds will never chill the
generous blood of my countrymen, but I hope they
will surfer all ills, even prefer the desperate
remedy of the Numantines of old rather than give
up a jot of their just rights and privileges, but
we are not reduced to this extremity, we have
a most extensive and fertile country to the
westward."

' For my own part I should not hesitate one
moment to leave a plentiful and unincumbered
fortune, and travel over the bleak and rugged
Alleghanies, and there in the evening of my days,
and covered with the skins of beasts, with pleasure
survey the rising of a new Empire ; and what
may we not expect after seeing that Lord Hills-
borough has dared to write to that firebrand

G r B d that the military is to be called

in to the assistance of ye civil magistrate, by
which our brothers and fellow citizens of Boston
are to be sacrificed to the unrelenting vengeance
of that merciless Tyrant. Such cruel and un-
necessary indignities are enough to rouse up the

c

18 LORD LILFORD

dead to deeds of desperation. Let it not be said
that there is a riot act to curb the people of
Britain. That is nothing to us, nor is it any-
thing to the purpose. Their representatives con-
fered this glorious stamp of slavery upon them :
thank God, our representatives have not as yet
been quite so complaisant. I don't at all doubt
that the very Parliament that is now sitting, will
before it rises, show us here some such kind-
ness, but I hope our courts of justice will never
even suppose that to be law which over-sets all
law, and that juries if it is found necessary, will
be resolutely determined to judge of ye law as
well as ye fact. Every American is interested in
the fate of Wilks as a lover of liberty : news
from Corsica is very pleasing, and the first thing
I look for in the papers feeling myself touched
for everything that struggles for Liberty.
' Your very sincere friend,

' Chae. T. Claek.'

Mrs. Charity Moore (ne'e Clark) on liberty ;
sixty years after.

' New York : December 10, 1831.

' My dear Sister, — It is with sorrow that I
observe the trouble of Britain, and wish I could

LETTER FROM MRS. CHARITY MOORE, 1831 19

know how you are situated in that turbulent
land where there seems no place of safety.
After all what a Tyrant liberty is, allowing only
her own favourites to think, speak or act,
punishing with mob and fire those who differ in
opinion from her. I wish and yet dread to hear
from England for I fear there is yet much
trouble before you. We are now celebrating the
birth of the Prince of Peace, may the land of
Britain find peace and Good-will among its
inhabitants. . . .

' We had a mild season until within a few days,
but it has not been a healthy one. An influenza
has been very general, even I have not escaped
it. But this day the sun shines so bright, the
air appears so pure that it is quite a day of en-
joyment. My little Grand-daughters are gone to
walk delighted at the idea of going abroad. . . .

' I am a slave to my tyranical cough and
cannot stir abroad. I hope this will find you in
better health than usual, all your Grandchildren
safe and well, Lord Holland free from gout, and
Lady Holland quite restored to health. My
love to her and all her posterity, Lady Lilford
more especially.

o 2

20 LORD LILFORD

' Farewell ray ever dear Sister, may heaven
bless and preserve you and yours and speedily
restore to Britain peace and good order.

' Your affectionate,

1 Char. Moore.'

Holland House with its milieu would have
been stimulating even to a dull mind, and my
mother, whose natural intelligence was brought
out and strengthened by long talks on all manner
of subjects with the father to whom she was so
deeply attached, profited by them to the fullest
extent. But her charms were not all of the
mind. Even Leslie's picture at Holland House
and Sir William Boss's miniature scarcely
do her justice, for an expression of extreme
sweetness on a face which yet shows character
is apt to mislead the painter, who registers the
sweetness and omits the indications of strength.

Miss Fox, from the age of eighteen, kept
a journal, which contains the record of many
conversations with her father. Here are a few
specimens, which, although youthful in style,
show intelligence in the writer.

'Saturday, February 26, 1823. — Papa and

MISS FOX'S DIARY AT HOLLAND HOUSE 21

I had a very delightful conversation; we con-
versed on divers subjects. The French Eevolu-
tion and Napoleon's character were at first our
chief topics. Papa gave me a sketch of the
history of the latter, relating his own interview
with him in Paris. Then we went on to speak
of Washington, a man of the purest character,
as papa said, under very trying circumstances.
Papa went on to read me some of Dryden's
verses, amongst others his satire on MacFlecknoe,
and his lines on Death from Lucretius. Papa
is very fond of Dryden, and considers that his
satire has a more elevated character than that
of Pope. Papa said he admired Pope for never
having decried Dryden, on the contrary, he
always expressed the sincerest admiration for
Dryden's talent.'

' Tuesday, March 26, 1823.— I talked of
the Iliad to papa, and of Mr. Knight's opinion
that the Odyssey was not written by the author
of the Iliad. Papa spoke of the description of
Sisyphus rolling the stone up the hill, in the
Odyssey, and of the sudden change of words
which pourtray its heavy tedious ascent and its
impetuous and rebounding descent.'

22 LORD LILFORD

' March 27. — Talking of Gray's interesting
letters, papa gave me an account of Thomas
Warton, the author of the " History of Poetry,"
in which many of his theories appear doubtful,
but from which work many have collected
material for books on the same subject. We
talked of Milton; I expressed my unbounded
admiration of his poetry, all of which I have
read, save Paradise Kegained. Papa considered
that the faults of Paradise Lost were the
subject, and the falling off in style towards the
end.'

' August 11, 1823. — I spent nearly the
whole morning with papa. We talked of Plato
and Aristotle, and their different philosophies,
both pupils of Socrates, but not friends. Plato's
system — that of Pre-existence. His notion of
virtue very exalted ; everything to be forsaken
or neglected in the pursuit of perfection. It
seems to me a very complicated system, and one
I should never have even faintly understood, did
papa not happen to have the clearest manner of
explaining any subject, however abstruse. In
order to exemplify Aristotle's system, papa
pointed out that substance and colour were not

MISS FOX'S DIARY AT HOLLAND HOUSE 28

identical, being both absolutely unconnected
with each other. The substance might exist
without the colour, and vice versa. Papa
mentioned Hesiod, and said he thought he had
certainly existed since Homer's time. There is
a notion that Pisistratus arranged the Iliad, and
that until his time it had only been transmitted
by memory to posterity. We compared the
Greeks and the Eomans. I asked whether the
former were not the more cultivated nation,
while less religious than the latter.'

My mother was also in the habit of recording
in her diary the names of those who dined at
Holland House, or in Old Burlington Street, the
London house to which the family sometimes
adjourned in the winter months.

Under date January 1, 1824, the following
entry is made : ' Dined down for the first time
since I sprained my ankle. Mr. Brougham,1 Sir
James Mackintosh,2 Mr. Whishaw,3 Mr.4 and
Mrs. "Bobus " Smith, Grandmama, Mr. Allen,5

1 Afterwards Lord Brougham. " The historian.

3 A Scotchman, author of various legal and political pamphlets.

4 Brother of Sydney Smith.

* A doctor, and old friend, resident at Holland House.

24 LORD LILFORD

and Charles * were present. The conversation
was not very general. Oranges not known in
ancient times ; a question whether Virgil
mentions them, but Mr. Smith said it was
without doubt the citron to which he alludes.
Papa quoted the lines. There was talk of the
injustice of not allowing a duke's son to study
the law.'

1 January 8, 1824. — Lord Grey, Lord
Howick, Lord Morpeth, Lady G. Morpeth, Lord
J. Russell, Mr. Howard, Mr. Allen, and myself
at dinner. Talk of Shakespeare's heroes :
Brutus drawn by him less amiably than Mark
Antony, for whom one feels most interest.
" Venice Preserved," by Otway, spoken of. Lord
Grey said it was one of the best plays we have ;
mamma objected to it as ill-contrived : papa
said the character of Belvidera was beautiful,
and true to nature. Shakespeare came up
again. Lord John Russell thought the Prince
of Wales was a finer character than Hotspur, as
Hector than Achilles. Papa said it was remark-
able that Homer should have made one of his
heroes — Ulysses — the greatest liar that ever

1 General Fox.

MISS FOX'S DIARY AT HOLLAND HOUSE 25

was, sporting his falsehoods, too, occasionally
when they were quite unnecessary.'

'1825 (no month).— Mr. Plunkett, Lord
Stowell, Mr. Grenville, Mr. Kogers, Mr. Luttrell,
Lord and Lady G. Morpeth, dined with us in Old
Burlington Street. The derivation of words men-
tioned. Papa said it was useful to have a know-
ledge of Anglo-Saxon, in order to trace the origin
of many words in our language. Mr. Plunkett said
flimsy was obviously from film , conveying the idea
of lightness and transparency, yet Johnson had
given it up in despair. Mr. Eogers agreed to its
being a good guess or conjecture, without its
appearing to him very probable. Dr. Johnson's
Dictionary, he added, was wonderful, for defini-
tion and example ; derivation was the weakest
part of it, and carelessly done. All ancient tragic
and comic writers called to this day Tragedians
and Comedians, terms never applied to those of
modern times. Someone said Sheridan would
not have liked being called a Comedian. Allitera-
tion in poetry discussed. Gray full of it, but
concealing it, papa said, much less than Pope,
who contrived to bring it in almost without the
reader's perceiving it, by making, as Mr. Plunkett

26 LORD LILFORD

expressed it, a sandwich of it. When well done
a very pretty poetical licence. After dinner Mr.
Grattan was talked of. Papa said he was a
truly great man, so much true philosophy and
deep wisdom in all his arguments, and yet
nothing laboured or studied. Mr. Brougham's
versatility of genius mentioned as extraordinary.
His last speech much admired, on Friday last,
in answer to Mr. Peel.'

1 September 2, 1825. — Mr. Adam, and William
Adam, his son, Mr. Rogers, Mr. Adair, My Aunts,
Papa, Mamma, and myself at dinner. A great
deal of delightful conversation, and such as
always interests me. Mr. Fox's speeches
mentioned. Mr. Adam said he had spoken
better since the American War than before.
Papa considered that his three best speeches
were undoubtedly those on the Sedition Act in
answer to Sir William Grant, on the Scrutiny
Bill, and on Buonaparte's Wars. The first papa
said he thought an extraordinary speech. A
very clever man (Sir W. Grant), with a philoso-
phical turn of mind, rises and makes a speech of
two hours, which Mr. Fox answers sentence by
sentence. Papa related a characteristic trait of

MISS FOX'S DIARY AT HOLLAND HOUSE 27

him : when he rose to speak someone making
some careless observation on what he was
likely to say, Fox turned sharply round to
him and said, " What then, and do you think it
so easy a matter to answer such a man as Sir
William Grant ? " He is supposed to have
thought his own best speech was the one made
upon Buonaparte's Wars, for when Grattan went
up to him afterwards, and said, " What an in-
comparable speech you have made ! ' Mr. Fox
answered, " I do not know whether it is a good
one or not, but I do know it is the best I can
make." Papa says that when he reads the
above-mentioned speech on the Scrutiny Bill, he
can hear the tones of his uncle's voice as dis-
tinctly as when the speech was delivered.'

In 1825-26 Miss Fox was with her parents
in Paris.

1 Since I have been here, the following
persons have been to see papa and mamma : the
two Messieurs Girardin (who were pupils of
Jean Jacques Eousseau), General La Fayette,
M. Mole, M. Lally Tollendal, the two Messieurs
Dupin, M. Gerard (the painter), the Due de
Choiseul, and many others. M. Humboldt, the

28 LORD LILFORD

great traveller in South America, comes here
frequently ; he is full of acquirement, and has a
great deal of conversation, which would be very
agreeable were it less full of parentheses and
digression ; M. Benjamin Constant and the
Comte de la Valette have dined here also, not to
forget M. Barante, the author of the " History of
the Dukes of Burgundy." I have heard many
delightful conversations among the remarkable
people who dine here, and I much regret that I
have not written them down directly, as I am
sorry to find my recollection of them is now very
imperfect.'

' January 16, 1826. — Mr. Adair and Baron
Louis dined with us. The latter was Minister
of Finance in the time of Napoleon, and seems
a shrewd, thorough Frenchman. He gave an
interesting account of Louis XVIII. ; he said he
was very constant in his dislike of people, and
very much the reverse in his affections. II avait
de V esprit t et beaucoup de grace. The present
King (Charles X.), though far from being as
clever as Louis, is more to be trusted ; very
warm and very constant in his attachments. As
an instance of the fickleness of Louis XVIII. ,

MISS FOX'S DIAEY— PARIS 29

Baron Louis mentioned that a favourite of the
King's, whose name I have forgotten, said, on
leaving him, that he would be forgotten in
eight days, but he had miscalculated, for he was
not remembered beyond two, and supplanted
by another favourite. Baron Louis spoke of
Napoleon's memory, which was prodigious in the
very minutest detail. He worked all along for
himself, not for the country. Papa said he
thought if Moreau had lived he would have been
a most dangerous rival to Napoleon. Later in
the evening, M. Benjamin Constant (who is,
they say, one of the cleverest men living) came
in. The affairs of Kussia talked of. M. Constant
compared Kussia to a well-packed quiet mule,
and Constantine and Nicholas to two men, each
ceremoniously declining to mount. M. Constant
looks very clever, but is not, I should think, an
amiable person. Speaking in the Chamber of
Deputies was then mentioned. M. Giamboni (a
Genoese established in Paris), who was present,
said that M. Constant, while others were speaking,
composed his speeches on little bits of paper,
with astonishing rapidity. M. Constant said
such a thing would not appear extraordinary to

30 LORD LTLFORD

an Englishman, as in both houses they spoke
extempore. He hopes that it may become
habitual here.'

'January 25, 182G. — M. St. Aignan, who
was a friend of Napoleon, came in. Much
talk about some very discreditable memoirs of
M. Clermont. M. St. Aignan said there really
could now be no safety in conversation, if one
was to feel that everything said was marked
and set down with a view to publication by
the members of society. He praised St. Simon
excessively. I have seen Marshal Soult's pic-
tures, which are very fine. He came here him-
self one evening. I cannot say that I think
his looks prepossessing, they are so harsh and
forbidding.'

1 January 30. — I went to the opening of the
Chambers, and heard Charles the Tenth speak.
It was a very short speech ; he dwelt on the ex-
cellent state of the finances, and expressed a
hope of improving the condition of the ministers
of our holy religion, which I should imagine was
not very favourably heard by many of his
listeners, as terror of the increasing power of
the Jesuits is great and universal.'

MISS FOX'S DIARY— PARTS— BOWOOD 31

( March, 1826. — I have seen Talma in private ;
his appearance in no wise indicates his tragic
powers.'

' May 28, 1826. — Prince Talleyrand has been
some time returned from the country, and I
have seen him often. I never heard him talk
much, but from all I have heard of his conversa-
tion it must be most delightful, as he has so
much wit, though of too sarcastic a nature to
make one feel at ease with him ; his countenance
is most singular.'

Miss Fox spent many pleasant days at Bo-
wood, in Wiltshire, the charming country home
of Lord and Lady Lansdowne (the former better
known for many years in political life as Lord
Henry Petty), and the following entry bears date,
Bowood, August 9, 1824. ' We have a pleasant
party here : M. and Madame Durazzo, Lord John
Eussell, Lady Elizabeth and Lord Belgrave,
Mr. Eogers (the banker poet), M. Dumont, and
Lord Ellenborough. Mr. Crabbe, and his brother
poet Mr. Moore, come over occasionally. The
former has written a poem, unpublished as yet,
for which he cannot find a name. Mr. Crabbe's
manner is very simple and unassuming, and

32 LORD LILFORD

there is a degree of archness in it, too, which
makes it very entertaining.'

Here is another ' dinner talk ' at Holland
House, August 1824. ' Mr. Kogers at dinner,
the conversation took a literary turn, Burns was
discussed, Mr. Eogers prefers the " Cotter's
Saturday Night," the " Mousie " and the " Daisy"
to any of his other productions and confessed
he could not understand " Tarn o' Shanter." A
comparison between Burns and Byron was made :
Papa said he thought the former rather a poet of
sense and reason, than of genius or imagination.
Lord Byron falls off, whenever he makes any
attempt at humour. Mr. Kogers said Burns
was a poet of sense — Byron of genius — and Scott
of cleverness ; leaving the poets, Papa said it
was a remarkable thing, which no one but Mr.
Rogers had yet noticed, that in five cases out of
six, Gibbon employs the genitive case. The con-
versation then turned upon acting, and papa and
mamma, and my aunts, as well as Mr. Rogers, all
agreed that had they the power of restoring
either Mrs. Jordan or Mrs. Siddons to the stage,
in their full vigour, it would certainly be the
former.'

CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION BILL 33

Holland House was not only an acknowledged
centre for the literary portion of society ; it was
also a great Whig camp, where the politics of
the day were eagerly discussed. The burning
question of the years covered by this portion
of Miss Fox's diary from 1825 to 1829 was the
proposed emancipation of the Koman Catholics
from the disabilities which barred their advance-
ment to any position of eminence.

In March 1828 Miss Fox writes : < The re-
peal of the Test and Corporation Act engrosses
the political world at present. My father made
a long and (what was generally considered to
be) an excellent speech on the subject : Lord
Eldon's arguments against the repeal seem
weak even to me. I trust and hope the
measure will be carried. Poor oppressed
Catholics ! how little our conduct with respect
to them tallies with the pure and sublime
precepts of that Gospel, in which they and we
equally believe.'

In 1829 the great measure was carried in
both Houses of Parliament.

Miss Fox records in her journal the passing
of the Bill in the House of Lords.

34 LORD LILFORD

' April 7, 1829. — The Catholic question
passed the Lords by a majority of 105. Last
Saturday I had the good fortune, the happiness,
to be in the House of Lords on April 2nd, 3rd,
and 4th, and I was indeed gratified beyond
all power of expression. I heard the Duke of
Wellington's speech on bringing forward the
measure ; it was frank, manly, well reasoned,
and what from him I did not expect, in parts
full of feeling, his description of civil war
particularly so. I had the pleasure of hearing
Lord Lansdowne, who spoke well, and with
great effect ; the Bishop of Oxford made a very
good speech in favour of concession, the Arch-
bishop of Armagh as good against. The next
day we heard the Chancellor (Lord Lyndhurst),
who spoke admirably in point of talent, argu-
ment, and wit, but he must be a man of nerve
to have made so daring, so impudent a recanta-
tion of what it seems were his opinions but very
lately ; his manner I thought dignified and calm ;
one is forced to admire, to respect him is im-
possible. The next day we were much amused
by a clever, strange, ddcousu speech from Lord
Westmoreland. He spared neither friend nor

MISS FOX'S DIARY— DEBATE IN HOUSE OF LORDS 35

foe, and let some secrets escape, such as the
appointment of Mr. Grant in Ireland, which
Lord Sidmouth took up warmly, and professed
himself in no wise instrumental in effecting,
being absent at the time. Lord Tenterden spoke
at length, and most tediously against the
measure, when, to my infinite joy, Lord Grey
rose to answer him, and he made a most
brilliant, eloquent, and comprehensive speech.
He considered the question in every possible
point of view ; his arguments, though perhaps
not new, were admirable, and as far as my
humble judgment goes, unanswerable, clothed,
too, in the most beautiful and forcible language,
added to a noble and dignified manner. I was
perfectly enraptured. I had never heard any
public speaking before, and it has made an
impression on me, not likely soon to be effaced.
Lord Eldon answered Lord Grey, or rather
answered the Chancellor, who had severely
handled Lord E. the previous night ; his retort
upon Lord Lyndhurst was very good and fair,
but the rest of his speech was reckoned weak.
The first night we heard Lord Winchilsea ; he
has great fluency and eloquence and feels, I do

D 2

36 LORD LILFORD

believe, most sincerely and conscientiously
opposed to the measure. It is supposed, that
were these times similar to those of the Gordon
riots, he would almost be inclined to play the
part of Lord George Gordon over again.
Thank God ! there is no such danger now to be
apprehended.

1 The Bishop of Durham ] the next day made
a long and violent speech. The Bishop of
Oxford 2 answered the portions of it applying to
himself in a very spirited manner. I did not
hear my dear father speak ; on Monday, the 6th,
he made, I hear, a very good speech on the
Disfranchisement Bill, which reads admirably,
though ill reported ; I am happy and proud to
have lived to see this great measure at last
carried, it reflects honour on the minister who
achieved it, but I do not think the conduct of
the Whigs can be sufficiently admired, their
disinterestedness, their magnanimity in not
expressing either pique or resentment at seeing
what has been throughout their political career,
their greatest political object carried by one who

1 Dr. Van Mildert. " Dr. Bagot.

MARRIAGE OF MISS FOX TO LORD LILFORD 37

has been, and I conclude still is, their opponent
on all subjects but this.'

Lady Holland's matrimonial intentions with
regard to her daughter were not shared by the
young lady herself, and it speaks well for Lord
Holland's powers of persuasion that he induced
his wife to abate something of the chevaux de
frise by which my mother was surrounded.

Otherwise so shy a man as my father could
never have run the gauntlet single-handed
against an antagonist of Lady Holland's mettle.
The engagement was entered into in the early
part of the year 1830, and the marriage took
place in the following May.

My mother still continued to keep a journal,
and there is a record, in 1835, of an interesting
dinner at Lord and Lady Holland's, in the
house which they were then occupying in Old
Burlington Street. My father and mother were
on a visit to Miss Caroline Fox at Little
Holland House.

'February 28, 1835.— We dined in Old
Burlington Street. The evening was very
pleasant. Count Pozzo di Borgo, and M.

38 LORD LILFORD

Mendizabel dropped in. The former recently
appointed Minister to this country from Russia,
the latter a Spanish merchant who entirely
supplied Don Pedro with arms, &c. during his
warfare with his brother, Don Miguel. Pozzo
gave us a very interesting account of his having
been in the battle of St. Vincent, under Lord
Nelson's protection. He was also (though a
diplomat, and not a military man) at the battle
of Jena.'

Under date April 1, 1835, my mother makes
further mention of M. Mendizabel :

'Lord Lilford went with Lord Stanley to
the House of Commons, and I waited for the
former till 3.30 in Old Burlington Street. I
found M. Mendizabel there, and the French
Ambassador, General Sebastiani, whom I knew
formerly in Paris. It seems that the last time the
General and M. Mendizabel met was in Spain ;
the latter was taken prisoner during the war,
by General Sebastiani, and by him ordered to
be shot. How he escaped, I confess I did not

1 General Sebastiani was father of the unfortunate Duchess de
Praslin, murdered by her husband in 1847. Lady Lilford had
known the Duchess intimately in her girlhood.

LADY LILFORD'S DIARY, 1835 39

understand, as he speaks French very unin-
telligibly. It was certainly curious that their
next meeting should have taken place unex-
pectedly, at my mother's house. After they
were gone, I read Comus while waiting for my
husband, who at last brought the news of the
division ; 33 majority on the side of the oppo-
sition. The Irish Appropriation Question is one
of great interest as far as I can understand it.
I confess I admire and respect Lord Stanley's
conscientious opinion on the subject.'

From 1861 until her death in 1891, my
mother lived in Great Cumberland Place. Be-
tween her and my eldest brother there existed a
strong bond of affection and sympathy, and often
by some strange instinct she had a conviction
that he was ill, before the actual tidings reached
her.

40 LORD LILFORD

CHAPTEK II

Birth of Thomas Littleton Powys, Subject of Memoir, in 1833 —
School Days — Letter from Colonel Barclay, a School Friend at
Harrow— Christ Church, Oxford, 1852 — Letters from Christ
Church Friends, Godfrey Webb, and the Rev. F. M. Stop-
ford — Extract from Professor Alfred Newton's Introduction
to Lord Lilford's ' Coloured Figures of British Birds ' — Letters
to Alfred Newton from 1852 to 1858 (Ornithological Rambles
in Spain and Sardinia) — Origin of Ibis Magazine.

On March 18, 1833, my eldest brother was
born in Stanhope Street, May Fair. His pre-
decessor in the nursery had been a sister, who
speedily adopted pretty, motherly airs of pro-
tection towards the little new-comer. The
name of Thomas awaited him at the font.
Only one story of his early years — a character-
istic one — need be related here. When he was
about five years old, some childish offence made
it necessary, in his father's opinion, that he
should undergo the time-honoured and time-
abused punishment of birching. The corporal
chastisement was administered in the dusk of an

SCHOOLDAYS 41

autumn evening, in the study at Lilford, and
when it was over, and the child was restored to
the perpendicular position, he observed with
considerable sangfroid, ' It did not hurt much ;
there's a brown owl flying by.'

Somewhere about his tenth year, my
brother was sent to Dr. Bickmore's school at
Berkswell, on the borders of Warwickshire.
This place was the scene of a pretty childish
idyll, which he often related in recent years to
his second wife. Walking by a wall one day,
over which strayed an apple bough bearing a
distractingly tempting burden of fruit, he raised
his hand towards it. ' 'Ain't your'n ! ' said a
voice above him, and, looking up, he saw a little
girl, clad in a blue frock, and dowered with red
hair and a freckled face. Perhaps the honest
eyes raised to hers convinced her that, however
suspicious the juxtaposition of hand and bough,
the owner of the former had no thievish inten-
tions. ' You may take one, if you like,' was the
next observation of the small, relenting dragon
of the golden pippins. The miller, who was
possessor alike of the freckle-faced little maiden
and the rosy-cheeked apples, came out on

42 LORD LILFOKD

hearing voices, and ratified the permission
granted.

The talk between the two having meanwhile
strayed to the subject of bird-nesting, he gave
them leave, on further acquaintance, to share
this amusement together. The little girl loved
flowers, and the boy's heart was given to birds,
so the two interchanged knowledge, and made
discoveries as botanist and field naturalist.

Meanwhile, Dr. Bickmore's other boys had
noticed Powys's frequent absences, and asked
him where he went. He did not wish his little
six-year-old playmate to be teased or laughed at
(perhaps he would not have relished his own
portion of such treatment), and, to prevent the
boys from invading his favourite haunts in the
neighbouring woods, he invented a story of an
idol being located there, with fearful powers of
destruction. The small boys were properly
impressed, but one of the older scholars was as
obstinately incredulous as Mrs. Betsy Prig her-
self in somewhat similar circumstances. My
brother offered to conduct the unbeliever to
the idol, a weird and grotesque tree stump, the
upper part of which he had shaped into some

SCHOOLDAYS 43

resemblance to a human face — and, uttering
uncouth and blood-curdling sounds of horror, he
so terrified and convinced his sceptical com-
panion that the latter fled, trembling from head
to foot. But tidings of the rambles of my
brother and the little girl reached Dr. Bick-
more's ears, and further intercourse was strictly
forbidden, with a rebuke to the eleven-year-
old naturalist for his ' liking for low company.'
The schoolboy and the little girl rambled no
more together, but the former caught a glimpse
of the owner of the red hair and the freckled
face for the last time on the day of his final
departure from the school, and the solitary
shilling that remained in his purse found its
way as a keepsake to his little friend.

With the exception of the late Lord
Portarlington, I know of no one of Dr.
Bickmore's boys who was a contemporary and
friend of my brother's. As regards the old
schoolfellow just mentioned, he writes in his
diary January 19, 1892 : ' I am grieved to hear
of the death of Portarlington at Bournemouth.
I knew him, in my earliest schooldays under
old Charley Bickmore at Berkswell ; then used

44 LOUD LILFORD

to see him casually as a Guardsman, about
London, in the ante- Crimean days ; afterwards
as a big, rollicking, good-natured M.P., best
known as "Hippy Dawson," and lately I have
renewed my acquaintance with him at Bourne-
mouth.'

One schoolboy letter of this period (1845)
has been preserved, the spelling immaculate,
the entreaties very earnest that he might be
allowed to attend his ' grandmamma's funeral.'
Lady Holland had died that year, and had
left her grandson the collection of stuffed birds
at Ampthill.

In 1848 my brother went to Harrow: a
stretch of fifty years between that period and
the present makes it difficult for those of his
Harrow friends who yet remain to furnish any
lively recollections of his public school days.
But one thing they are unanimous in stating,
and that is that in a more or less degree he
made naturalists of them all. His interest in
bird and beast life was so keen, his power of
observation developed so rapidly, that it was
impossible to be much with him and not feel
drawn towards the subjects to which he gave a

HARROW 45

living interest. He collected various animals,
including, of course, birds, and was a constant
visitor at Goshawk's, the bird dealer in the town.
It was as a boy of seventeen that he began
to send his first ornithological contributions
to the editor of the ' Zoologist,' recording, with
the freshness of close personal observation, any
matters of interest connected with the wild
birds of the neighbourhood.

Colonel H. Barclay, of Tingrith Manor,
has kindly forwarded me a few reminiscences
of this schoolboy period. ' I cannot clearly
remember when I first made Powys's ac-
quaintance, but it must have been very soon
after my entrance in Harrow School in mid-
summer 1849. I well remember seeing in
Powys's locker in his room some little bitterns
which he had introduced surreptitiously, and
was in much fear of being discovered. I find
by the Harrow register that he left at mid-
summer 1850, but I thought I had known him
longer. He used constantly to be at our house,
where he was always welcome, and I can recall
his often singing the old Scotch song of " Bonnie
Dundee " for the amusement of my mother and

46 LORD LILFORD

sisters. He had a good natural voice, but
generally sang without any accompaniment. In
those days I took more interest in entomology,
for which pursuit I do not think Powys cared
much. Harrow discipline in those days was
laxer than now, and, being a home boarder, I had
no difficulty in getting my tutor to sign my
name as absent from " bill " for trivial reasons,
often for riding up to London, or in search of
some entomological specimens at some distance
from Harrow. After Powys left he went to a
private tutor at Lausanne, and we regularly
corresponded all the time he was out there ;
and on his return I remember him coming to
Harrow and distributing amongst his friends
who cared for them numbers of skins of birds
that he had collected in Switzerland. To me
he gave a pair of the rare wall-creeper,
Tichodroma muraria, which I still have in my
possession, often reminding me of the days when
we were boys together. Recent years have
separated us, and I think the last occasion I
saw Lord Lilford was in his rooms in Tenterden
Street, at the Ornithological Union Club, just
after the death of his eldest son. Hearing that

LETTER FROM COLONEL H. BARCLAY 47

I was in the Club he sent for me, and I did all
I could to alleviate the bitter grief that he was
enduring.

' I can only add that all the remembrance
of my association with Lord Lilford is a great
happiness. I can never remember seeing him at
any time uncourteous. He was always happy,
unless sorrow intervened, and then his aim was
not to intrude his sorrow to make others sad ;
and even in the last few years of his life, when
bodily weakness prevented him from moving
about, those who knew him all tell me that his
genial temperament never failed.'

Harrow was succeeded by Christ Church,
Oxford, to which college my brother went in
1852. Of course the ruling passion accompanied
him there, and he knew the neighbourhood of
Oxford, and haunted it after the fashion of the
1 Scholar Gipsy,' but for the sake of sport and
ornithological observation. For the two went
always together. My brother was a keen and
ardent sportsman, but the love of the gun never
overlaid the love of the particular science which
accorded with his inborn tastes.

My brother left Oxford in 1855. Of < book

48 LORD LILFORD

work,' in the ordinary sense of that expression,
he had not done much, but he had been learning
every day from other teachers. He was a good
Latin scholar, but his ' acquaintance with the
tongue of Hellas,' as he himself said, ' was
infinitesimal,' and not even the title nor the
wit of the ' Birds ' of Aristophanes could tempt
him to make much acquaintance with that, or
the other plays of the Greek master of comedy.
' I' should be sorely put to it, to make anything
of the " Clouds " or the " Frogs," ' he wrote to a
friend in later years. After all, a mind of great
intelligence assimilates almost instinctively what
it needs for the strengthening of its particular
tastes.

An old friend of my brother, Mr. Godfrey
Webb, has kindly sent me a brief account of the
' Tom Powys ' of old Oxford days, on what may
be called ' his birdy and social side.'

' Tom Powys was a well-known figure at
Oxford more than forty years ago, and he
had many friends, but not exclusively amongst
undergraduates, as was the case with most of
us at the University, for his tastes and pursuits
brought him into contact with all sorts and con-

LETTER FROM GODFREY AVEBB 49

ditions of men. Farmers, whose land he used
to frequent for snipe-shooting or when he was
looking out for some particular bird, naturalists,
bird-stuffers, rat-catchers, gamekeepers and
strange doggy men, possessors of a young otter
or a badger, all had a word or touch of the hat
for Mr. Powys of Christ Church. Even at this
time his knowledge of the habits of birds and
animals was remarkable, and enabled him to
subdue the wildness and overcome the timidity
of many a strange pet ; he had badgers in his
rooms, which occasioned some passing difficulties
with the College authorities ; tame snakes were
not infrequently seen by visitors, when nerves
were proof against the repulsion which most of
us felt for the serpent tribe. He never realised
how strange his predilection for curious animals
appeared to ordinary mortals, and his kindness
of heart, and love of " all things both great and
small," made him fancy that other people felt
as he did.

' I remember a drive with him in a hansom
from Leadenhall Market to Down Street,
Piccadilly (where I had lodgings at the time),
with an eagle-owl in a large cage on the

E

50 LORD LILFORD

roof by the driver, and two armadillos inside
with us. He got some rooms opposite mine, and
the next morning the Irish slavey was crying
bitterly, for she said : " Them scaly bastes have
killed the cat," and so they had. He was
amused by her complaints, but took care that she
was substantially comforted. At this time his
spirits were very high, and though the days of
practical jokes and street adventures belonged to
a former generation, we were sometimes guilty
of mystifying respectable old gentlemen by
extraordinary questions, or treating puzzled
policemen to astonishing statements or com-
plaints. On one occasion, when he acted the
part of a foreigner who had lost his way in
London, the policeman whose aid I requested,
in answer to his voluble French replied, " I 'opes
Mr. Powys is well," having recognised him at
once from the fact of having been a North-
amptonshire Militiaman, which led to frater-
nising and suitable donations.

' But to return to Oxford, where he made
many friends and no enemies. Christ Church
men when he joined the College had, and
perhaps still have, an inordinate idea of their

LETTER FROM GODFREY WEBB 51

own importance, and a corresponding contempt
for the less fortunate men who were members
of the other colleges ; these were spoken of as
" Squills," and if a Christ Church man associated
much with them it was not altogether approved
of by these exclusive undergraduates. Tom
Powys's common sense at once revolted against
this idea of exclusiveness ; besides, he had
come up from Harrow with great school friends
at other colleges than Christ Church, and
Tufnell of Brasenose was a greater friend and a
more constant companion in shooting and other
pursuits than any one of the Christ Church men.
I was also a great friend, but not so intimate as
I afterwards became, for I had not been with
him at Harrow, as was the case with Tufnell
and some other Oxford men.

' This revolt against the prevalent ideas of
members of " The House " was perhaps the only
thing that interfered at all with Tom Powys's
well- deserved popularity, and I rejoice to think-
that as an " out-college man " I gained his
friendship at Oxford, and retained it to the end
of his life.

1 At Oxford he could not be said to read much,

F. 2

52 LORD LILFORD

but he was a good Latin scholar and a master of
living languages, at that time so much neglected
at the University. He liked to know what was
going on in many of the side paths of life, con-
sequently he became an ardent Freemason, and
enjoyed the mysteries and good-fellowship of
the fraternity. One of the dons reproached him
with wasting his time on Freemasonry, and
contemptuously added, " I believe the porter of
Brasenose is a great authority." " Quite true,
sir," said Tom Powys, " and so is the principal ; "
which quick reply extinguished the sarcastic
don, for Dr. Harington of Brasenose was a very
great man among the Oxford dons of his day,
and Tom happily remembered that he was a
supporter of the craft.

' I have referred to his knowledge of living
languages, and it was astonishing with what
ease he acquired French, Italian, and Spanish,
which he never forgot. His musical ear was a
help, I fancy, in picking up the language of any
people he was thrown in contact with. I went
nine years consecutively, long after our Oxford
days, to Gaick Forest, where he killed his first
stag, and at the end of the nine years I do not

LETTER FROM THE REV. F. M. STOPFORD 53

think I knew a sentence in Gaelic, but Tom
Powys picked it up from hearing the stalkers'
conversation the very first year that he was in
the Highlands. I do not mean that he could
ever talk it as he could his favourite Spanish,
but it was not safe for the stalkers to converse
before him, and criticise the badness of any
particular shot, without his understanding what
they were saying. In the Oxford days his voice
was at its best, and his delightful singing at
supper parties and other social gatherings will
never be forgotten by those of his old friends
who still survive him.'

The Kev. F. M. Stopford, another old Oxford
friend, sends me the following letter : ' Lilford
was keen on birds when at Christ Church, and
hired a stable and outhouses for what became
the nucleus of his collection. At every spare
hour he would go on tours of observation (the
district was favourable), and so obtained a larger
acquaintance with the subject so dear to him.
As you know, his stay at Oxford was not of
long duration, and he passed from thence into
the Northamptonshire Militia. His friends were
many, and of the St. Aldate's Club (Christ

54 LORD LILFOKD

Church) he was a popular and influential
member, and we all regretted deeply his early
departure.'

Of the time spent with the County militia
I have no record, my brother's ' Colonel ' and
life-long friend, Lord Exeter, who might have
furnished me with a few reminiscences of what
was a very pleasant period in the former's life,
having passed away.

After Oxford days my brother paid visits
to friends, principally in Ireland and Devonshire,
and came back with memories of joyous days
spent amongst snipe, woodcock, and wildfowl.
Many were the anecdotes and songs, from Irish
or West Country sources, told and sung with
correct accent and inimitable humour.

A few years later he carried his expeditions
further afield. His old friend, Professor Newton
of Cambridge, writes in his introduction to my
brother's book on ' British Birds ' :

' In the summer of 1856 he was able to put
into execution the idea he had long cherished of
an extended yacht voyage to Southern Europe.
Embarking with a friend on the " Claymore,"
they touched at various ports on the coast of

PROFESSOR ALFRED NEWTON 55

Spain, making some stay on the Balearic Islands,
and visited Corsica and Sardinia. He wrote to
me in October of that year from Cagliari, giving
a long list of the birds he had seen alive or dead
during the cruise. They thence sailed for Sicily,
but encountering a violent gale of wind in which
the yacht received some damage, they had to
put in to Malta for repairs. As the execution
of these needed some time Mr. Powys betook
himself to Tunis, where he passed two months^
enchanted with the zoological wealth of the
country and enjoying very fair sport. Thence
he proceeded to the Ionian Islands, reaching
Corfu on Christmas Day 1856, and there he
stayed " off and on " until July 1858, making
frequent excursions for sport or natural history
to the opposite coast of Epirus or iEtolia, going
even so far to the northward as Montenegro.
The results of this prolonged residence in those
parts were communicated by him to the Ibis
for 1860 — the establishment of which journal he
cordially approved, joining the British Ornitho-
logists' Union so soon as he heard of its forma-
tion— and while they show with what earnest-
ness he entered into his pursuits, undeterred

56 LORD LILFORD

by bad weather, fatigue, or sickness, the same
series of papers reveals in many a passage that
delicate and admirable humour which so
markedly distinguished him.'

After a lively picnic (February 16, 1857), in
the neighbourhood of Corfu, he writes in his
diary of the scenery, ' Far too beautiful for me to
attempt to describe, while one cannot be thank-
ful enough to have been allowed to enjoy such
air, and such beauty, in very pleasant company.'
But neither the beautiful scenery, nor the
pleasant company, prevented his careful notice
of all the birds within sight.

Professor Newton has kindly allowed me to
make use of the following letters, which show
how little Oxford examinations or the advent
of the Crimean war could interfere with my
brother's love of natural history :

From Hon. Thomas L. Poivijs to
Alfred Newton.

' December 10, 1852.

' Sir, — May I ask you whether you have ever
noticed a disease incident to the eyes of owls in

UNDERGRADUATE LETTERS TO A. NEWTON 57

confinement ? I have at Oxford 4 Long-eared
Owls — 2 Tawny, 1 Barn, and 1 Scops-eared —
and every one of the Long-eared has been attacked
by a disease of some sort in the eye. It begins
with a sort of film, which grows thicker and
thicker, till the sight is lost. They have all
four had it, but have now quite recovered.
The other owls have escaped it entirely.

' Begging many pardons for thus troubling
you, I beg to remain, your obedient servant.

< T. L. Powys.'

To the same.

' Lilford : December 16, 1852.

' . . . Perhaps it may be interesting to you
to know that for the last two or three mornings
the keeper and myself have been chasing a
Golden-eye Duck on our river here, the Nene,
without success, and that about two mornings
ago we were joined by a wild Peregrine Falcon,
but her efforts were also unsuccessful. Neither
of these birds is common here, though one or
more of each are generally seen and killed every
winter on the Nene.

' I offered all my owls water often, and none

58 LORD LILFORD

but the Barn Owls would drink at all, though
most of them were very fond of washing. I
care myself more for living birds than anything
else. I hope you will excuse me if I give
you the list of those I have alive at this
moment :

' 1 White-tailed Eagle, 1 Peregrine Falcon,
1 Hobby, 5 Kestrels, 1 Sparrow Hawk, 1 Kite,

1 Buzzard, 8 Owls, 1 Marsh Harrier, 1 Raven,

2 Magpies, 1 Jackdaw, 1 Crossbill, 1 Brambling,

1 Stork, 2 Night Herons, 2 Common Herons,

2 Spoonbills, 1 Godwit, 2 Peewits, 2 Ring
Dotterels.

' There is a heronry at Bulwick, the seat of
T. Tryon, Esq., in this county. A few herons
nest every year in Wytham Wood, about three
miles from Oxford. I know of one heronry at
Dawyck in Peebleshire, the seat of Sir John M.
Naesmyth.1 I hope you will excuse my saying
that if you could by any means happen to get a
Short-eared Owl, or Merlin alive, and do not
want him yourself, I should be very glad of him
indeed.'

1 This was in answer to an inquiry from Mr. A. Newton, who
was at the time making a list of the heronries in the United
Kingdom.

UNDERGRADUATE LETTERS 69

To the same.

' Lilford : December 27, 1852.

'The Golden-eye Duck has disappeared.
One of my cousins shot a Tufted Duck a few days
ago ; this last is rarer with us than the Golden-
eye. I have a good chance of getting you the
eggs of great and lesser Spotted Woodpecker
and Spotted Crake next spring, if you want
them. . . .'

To the same.

' 10 Grosvenor Place : July 23, 1853.

' Many thanks for your letter. I was sorry
not to have seen you when you were in town,
and made your acquaintance personally. I am
sorry to tell you that my little Scops Owl died
at Lilford and they threw the body away, so
I could not preserve the sternum for you, or
the skin for myself. A fine old Marsh Harrier,
which I had kept alive for nearly six years, was
also killed by a terrier last Sunday. Do you
want any skins of King-ouzel or Dippers ? Both
are very common in Merionethshire, where I go
to-night. . . .'

60 LORD LILFORD

To the same.

' Lilford : October 21, 1853.

' ... In two days' shooting at Whittlesea
I shot 7 Spotted Crakes, and saw 2 more. I
should have great pleasure in sending you one
or two more skins if you wish for them, when
they return from the hands of the stuffier. I
heard from a friend in the Broad district in
Norfolk that there are a great many Buffs and
Beeves about : this has been a very good season
for them also at Whittlesea.'

To the same.

' Lilford : November 20, 1853.

' . . . I yesterday received a very fine pair
of young Golden Eagles, alive and very tame,
from Scotland. I have already a very fine
White-tailed Eagle alive, and with Mr.
Domville's shall be quite rich in the eagle line.
I never remember so many Snipes, but they are
very wild. . . .'

To the same.

' Ch. Ch., Oxford : November 30, 1853.

' . . . I have been lucky enough to get a
Double Snipe, Buffon's Skua, and the Ash-

UNDERGRADUATE LETTERS 61

coloured Shrike all killed near here, and good
specimens. . . .

'I found my birds here in beautiful con-
dition. The Sea Eagle is in magnificent
plumage, and my Peregrine is the finest I ever
saw, and perfectly tame. I have an offer of a
Goshawk alive, at rather a long figure, 61.,
trained. . . .'

To the same.

' Lilford : December 24, 1853.

' . . . I called some Golden Plover over my
head the other day, and got one. I called some
also to-day, but did not let them get near
enough before I shot. I never saw them come
to call when in such large numbers before. I
can almost always make sure of a shot at two or
three, when the Peewits are out of the way. . . .'

To the same.

1 Lilford : March 31, 1854.

'. . . I found the 3 red-legged Partridges [sent
by Professor Newton] alive and well on my return
from Ireland. A pair of Brown Owls which I
have at Oxford have laid three eggs. I took a
nest of the Long-eared Owl in Ireland containing

62 LORD LILFORD

3 eggs ; this was about the 14th of March ;
could you possibly manage to get me some
young birds of the above species ? I particu-
larly want to make a collection of the Strigida?.
The north of Ireland abounds in the Kaptores.
The Peregrine, Common Buzzard, Marsh
Harrier, Hen Harrier, Kestrel, Merlin, and
Sparrow Hawk I have seen in a day's walk in
Antrim. And they tell me on the coast of
Donegal four or five White-tailed Eagles are
often to be seen on the wing together. Besides
these, there are several interesting birds, such
as the Chough, the great Black-backed Gull,
Black Guillemot, Purple Sandpiper, &c, to be
found all along that coast.'

To the same.

' 3 Little Ryder Street, London April 21, 1854.

' ... It is very annoying to have to be
out with the Militia when I should like to be
bird-nesting in Ireland, especially as our head-
quarters are at perhaps the dullest county town
in England. I shall go down and have a look
at the Pied Woodpeckers some day next week. . . .
We muster on the '27th. . . . Leadenhall Market

WITH THE MILITIA IN ICELAND 63

contains nothing but a few Plovers, and some
Kuffs and Keeves. . . .'

To the same.

' 10 Grosvenor Place : June 10, 1854.

' . . . Many thanks for the owls, which
arrived safely. I arn now rich in owls. I don't
know how long I shall be in this detestable
metropolis ; I shall now be too late to get any
eggs myself in Ireland. . . .'

To the same.

' Linen Hall Barracks, Dublin : April 2, 1855.

' Many thanks for your kind promise to do
what you can about the Hazel Hens.1 I would go
to the expense of 40£. or 501. to get over several
pairs in good healthy condition. Their favourite
food is birch shoots, wild strawberries, heather,
and larch shoots, I believe : at least that is
what the crops of those that I saw in Switzer-
land were filled with. They are an excessively
difficult bird to shoot, as they fly up into a thick
fir immediately, and sitting close to the trunk
are very difficult to distinguish. In five days'
shooting in the Jura, I only saw three, all of

1 Mr. Newton was then going to Norway and Sweden for the summer.

64 LORD LILFORD

which adopted the above plan of proceeding, but
did not escape. I heard, I should think, forty or
fifty get up, but could not see them, owing to
the thickness of the underwood. I think I can
promise you the eggs of Golden Eagle, Merlin,
Peregrine, Chough, and Shoveller. I am afraid
I cannot accept your offer of the Hen Harrier, as
I am uncertain what my immediate destination
may be. I shall probably leave the regiment
and if possible go to America. . . .'

To the same.

' Magazine Guard, Devonport : April 23, 1855.

' . . . The only living pet I have here besides
my retriever is a young half-bred wild boar,
which I bought at the Dublin Castle show. He
is striped longitudinally on the back with alter-
nate red and yellow, shy, and burying himself
in straw when tired or lazy. It may perhaps
interest you to know that the Buzzard in Corn-
wall is called a "Kit," and the Hen Harrier a
" Furze-kit " or Gull Hawk. Both are far from
uncommon, and the real Forky-tailed Kit is now
and then seen, and breeds in a large wood seven-
teen miles from here.'

LETTERS TO PROF. NEWTON— SARDINIA 65

To the same.

' Lilford : October 28, 1855.

* . . . I was very pleased at finding your
letter here yesterday on my return from
Burghley, where I have been shooting for the
last few days. Your trip in Norway must have
been very delightful. I have a few rather rare
eggs which are quite at your service, amongst
others the Common Dotterel, taken in Skiddaw.
A very fine young White-tailed Eagle ' was sent
me about a month ago from County Waterford.
I had a letter from one of my brother officers
at Gibraltar, in which he told me that the Eock
abounds in eagles and hawks ; shooting on it is
strictly forbidden. . . .'

To the same.

1 Cagliari : October 16, 1856.

' . . . We put into CoruSa for two or three
days : I saw nothing there but harriers and
buzzards. The next place we stopped at was
Cadiz. They keep a great many of the large
Calandra Lark in cages. I saw Griffon Vulture

1 This eagle lived until 1898.

66 LORD LILFORD

Egyptian Vulture, Peregrine, Crane, Flamingo,
Stork, Little Egret, Avocet, Stilt Plover, and a
great many others of less note. All the time
we were in Spain it was too hot to do much in
the way of personal research. Near Barcelona
I found a great number of Spotted Crake, and
some Alpine Swifts. . . .

1 Here in Sardinia I have been out half a
day, and bagged five brace of the Barbary
Partridge, which is the only species in the
island. . . .

' The country is full of game and rare and
interesting birds, and I have made the acquaint-
ance of the curator of the museum, a remark-
ably civil fellow, who made me a present of a
book on the ornithology of the island. We have
only been here a few days, and are to start to-
morrow. I should like to stay a year here. . . .'

To the same.

' Turin : October 4, 1858.

' At Corfu, or rather in Albania, I got some
good birds though nothing very wonderful . . .
but such shooting ! Within a day or two of
Corfu are to be found Bear, Wolf, Jackal, Fox,

PREFERS WATCHING BIRDS TO KILLING THEM 67

Lynx, Wild Cat, Marten, Polecat, Hare, Ked Deer,
Fallow Deer, Roe, Chamois, Perdix grceca and
cinerea, Phasianus colchicus, Woodcock, Double,
Full, and Half Snipe, and every imaginable Duck,
except the Scaup. W^e devoted ourselves to the
Wildfowl, and did great things. I was the dis-
coverer of chamois near Corfu in the Acro-
ceraunian Mountains near Khimara ; they were
well known of in the Pindus range. I start for
Sardinia about the end of the month, and do not
mean to come back without Bonelli's Eagle,
Eleanora Falcon, and Lammergeyer.'

To the same.

' Turin : October 21, 1858.

' My dear Newton, — I have as you suppose
enjoyed my travels immensely, but you are also
perfectly correct in supposing that my ornitho-
logical acquisitions have been very small. The
truth is, I do not in the least set up for, or con-
sider myself worthy the name of ornithologist.
I love birds with all my heart, but over and over
again I have let a valuable bird escape, if I
already possessed a specimen, and sometimes
even when I did not, if I could clearly make out

F 2

68 LORD LILFORD

the species without slaughtering mon individu.
I always prefer knowing where to find and
observe particular birds to killing them, though
I always like to have one specimen. Tunis is a
magnificent country, where I would willingly
have passed a year, but I had a rampant friend
waiting for me at Malta, et que voulez-vous ?

' I do not think that Aquila pennata (Booted
Eagle) is common anywhere north of Spain.
There is a very good ornithologist at Genoa, who
has a splendid collection of European Eaptores,
and he tells me that he has only heard of it
once in those parts : it has not yet been dis-
covered in Sardinia. The ibex does not exist
in Sardinia ; moufflon in abundance and some
wild goats, but the only place in which I know
of ibex in Europe out of Spain is a glacier not
very far from this place, whither I went the
other day with the idea of getting a shot. How-
ever, on arriving at the village at the foot of the
mountain I found that the king, who is a mighty
Nimrod, had reserved all the ibex for his own
gunnery, and had got a lot of gardes de chasse
all over the place. I offered the chasseur fifty
francs to take me up without a gun to get a look

CHAMOIS— ' IBIS ' MAGAZINE 69

at the beasts with a glass, but they were expect-
ing the king, who was shooting in another valley,
and they would not disturb the glacier, so I was
obliged to take after chamois, at which I did not
get a shot, but my guide killed the only one he
saw, a very fine old buck. I do not at all know
what my movements will be, as I am dependent
for orders on the home authorities, but my pre-
sent intention is to stay in Sardinia till the end
of April or beginning of May, to try to get the
eggs of Lammergeyer, Bonelli's Eagle, Eleanora
Falcon, and Sylvia sarda, all of which, if I get
them, shall be entirely at your disposition. I
should then go to Spain — the northern provinces
— to find out what is this graminivorous bear of
the Asturias and to persuade myself as to the
identity of the Spanish with the Piedmontese
ibex. Our minister here, Sir J. Hudson, shot
an ibex on the aforesaid glacier about four years
ago, before the chase was forbidden.

' I cordially join in your wishes about the
establishment of a good ornithological magazine.
I would humbly venture to suggest that it be
strictly ornitho- and oological, as I am convinced
that one branch is quite enough at a time.

70 LORD LILFORD

You may certainly rely on me as a subscriber.1
I had the breast-bone of Sand Grouse and several
other birds for you, which my Greek servant
chose to sit upon and squash at Corfu. I am
very sorry indeed, and used all the Homeric
objurgations I was master of — alas ! too late. I
had the melancholy satisfaction of knowing that
some of the bones must have penetrated the flesh
of the ruffian. ... In Albania Vidtur cinereus
of Linnaeus is rare, in fact I only saw it once.
I say I saw it when I saw a great black vulture
about sixty yards off. The Griffon Vulture is
very common indeed in winter, and I think
breeds in the interior. The Egyptian Vulture
comes in early spring, is very common, breeds,
and disappears about the middle of September.
There is a bird which I fancy must be Lammer-
geyer, which is certainly smaller than any
specimen I have seen. Of eagles, Imperialis
and White-tailed are common and resident.
Naevia 2 very common ; Golden Eagle and
Short-toed Eagle very local and not common.

1 This has reference to the foundation of the Ibis, the first
number of which appeared in the January following.
■ Spotted Eagle.

6

S

- -

J -

- -a
t> o.

-I.

* §

H PL,

p.'

_-

MEDITERRANEAN WILD GOATS— IBEX— LYNX 71

I think I have seen Bonelli's Eagle, but of course
cannot be certain at a passing glance. . . .
There is a good museum here, and the best
taxidermist I know of.

' What is a good book to consult on the
quadrupeds of Europe ? I find almost every
Mediterranean island claims a peculiar species
of wild goat. In Candia, I believe, the genuine
old wild goat does exist on Mount Ida. ... I
want very much to explore Cyprus some day or
other. . . . What is the great hawk they train
in the Lebanon to kill gazelles ? The Prince of
Montenegro told me that there were wild goats
in his mountains, but one cannot question a
sovereign. I am inclined to think he meant
chamois, as the Greek name for chamois means
wild goat. I never could hear of ibex in Albania,
though I believe they exist in Armenia and the
Caucasus. The Albanian name for chamois
is Borgheetch, which means snowdeer.

' The Turks ignore their existence altogether,
though there are plenty on the Thessalian
Olympus. One rare beast in this part of the
world is the lynx. The king shot a very fine
young one about two months ago near Valdieri.

72 LORD LILFOIiD

Let me hear from you as often as you can find
time to write : every scrap of ornithological
knowledge is most welcome to me. I am only
waiting for the arrival of some English powder
to start for Sardinia. I have no intention, unless
my parents insist upon it, of re-visiting England
for another two or three years. I am sick of
black hats and conventionalities. Your objec-
tions to Spain are, I think I may say, groundless.
Garlic certainly exists, but the consumption of
it is by no means compulsory. Good-bye ; do
write to

' Yours most truly,

' T. L. Powys.'

73

CHAPTER III

His Marriage to Miss Emma Brandling in 1859 — Her Death in
1884 — Succession to Title in 1861 — Aviaries built at Lilford
Hall — Visits to Spain in 1864 and 1865 — Extracts from Diary
in Spain — Letter written some years afterwards to his Brother,
the Hon. and Rev. E. V. Powys, on a proposed Tour in
Spain — Walk through the New Forest with Tennyson —
British Ornithologists' Union in Tenterden Street — Letters to
Canon Tristram, 1860 to 1866— Letter from Hon. Stephen
Powys — Letters to Canon Tristram, H. M. Upcher, Dr. Albert
Gtinther, Lieut. -Colonel Howard Irby, and Lord Walsingham
from 1872 to 1884.

In the winter of 1858-59, my father and mother
rented a villa at Nice, with General and Lady
Mary Fox. It was at this place that my brother
first became acquainted with Miss Emma
Brandling, who was on a visit to Lady Mary
Fox, at the Villa Gastaud. She was one of the
daughters of Mr. Brandling, of Low Gosforth,
Northumberland, a family well known in the
North for their possession of more than average
good looks. Emma was the youngest, and by
many persons considered the most beautiful of

LORD LILFORD

the group. Her picture had been painted by
Mr. Watts, and (although it may be a fanciful
mind to which such a thought occurs) it seems
as if some prophetic insight on the part of the
artist, had led him to impart to the beautiful
face a look of sadness which did not rest upon it
at that early period. Her marriage with my
brother, which took place on June 14, 1859, was
a very happy one, but to my sister-in-law it was
saddened and rendered anxious by the frequent
attacks of illness to which her husband became
subject. The prophetically sorrowful expression
that haunts the eyes in the picture of earlier
years, received its full justification in the heart-
breaking sorrow that came to her in 1882, in the
death of her eldest son, a bright and charming
young man of twenty-one.1 She never re-
covered from this unexpected blow, and died in
1884.

I have mentioned my brother's frequent
attacks of illness. The hereditary enemy, gout,
coming from the Fox as well as the Powys
side of the family, claimed him as its victim

1 Her remaining sons are John fifth Lord Lilford, and Hon.
Stephen Powys.

SUCCEEDS TO TITLE -TRAINS FALCONS 75

from the sixties onwards, and there was scarcely
a year in which he was not more or less in-
valided.

In 1861 my brother succeeded to the title as
fourth Lord Lilford, and made use of his added
wealth and opportunities by furthering, in all
possible ways, the interests of his favourite
pursuits. I think it was about this time that he
became interested in the subject of falconry, and
made acquaintance with Mr. E. Clough New-
combe, who gave him practical instruction in the
best methods of carrying out that ancient and
historical form of sport. His enthusiasm in this
matter never waned, and he did all in his power —
besides himself training, with the assistance of
Paul Mollem and E. Cosgrave,1 many a good
hawk — to further the practice of the falconer's
art throughout the country. His collection of
living animals, beginning with a pair of bitterns
and other birds, humbly located, not without
fear of discovery, in a locker at Harrow, had
been promoted at Oxford, by reason of increasing
numbers, to a hired stable and outhouses. Now
a wider home and more suitable surroundings

1 Falconers and (in succession) bird-keepers at Lilford.

76 LORD LILFORI)

could be provided for them at Lilford, and
aviaries were built in the courtyard, although it
was not till within a comparatively recent period
that the beautiful pinetum, and the aviaries and
ponds in the grounds, were set apart for the land
and water birds in which he took so keen a
delight.

In 1864 and 1865 he accomplished the visits
to Spain on which his heart had long been set.
Little, comparatively speaking, was known of
the avifauna of that most interesting country,
and ' his articles in the Ibis paved the way
for the more complete investigations so admir-
ably carried out by Lieut. -Colonel Irby, and
others.'

The belief in heredity has grown so strong
that we have almost come to consider that
every taste or idiosyncrasy in an individual has
descended to him, like an heirloom, from his
two progenitors or their respective ancestors. I
suppose I must attribute my brother's intense
love of Spain, its people, its language, and its
climate to a taste inherited from his grand-
father, Lord Holland. The Whig statesman
had the same romantic love for that country,

rX MERITED LOVE OF SPAIN 77

which he occasionally visited ; he read its
classics with absorbing interest, and translated,
for his own amusement, some of the plays of Lope
de Vega. He also wrote a life of that ingenious
and inventive dramatist, guiltless of the critical
insight which is the pride of our day, but
sufficiently interesting to be readable.

' I confess to an infatuation for everything
Spanish,' wrote my brother in one of his Ibis
articles on Spain, ' everything except bonds and
coupons. I made many friends, and shook off
in that country my bitter enemy — rheumatism.
I delighted in learning the glorious language
and found great enjoyment in riding over the
fragrant dehesas and rugged sierras. The flavour
of garlic recalls many a pleasant evening passed
in many a Spanish venta, listening to stories
of la caza mayor y menor (the chase of large
and small game) ! '

' Spain,' Professor Newton writes, 'had been
the subject of his youthful dreams by day and
night, and after his previous agreeable experience
in that country (in 1856 and 1864) it was only
natural that he should renew his attempt to
become better acquainted with it. The admirable

78 LORD LILFORD

narrative of his doings there in 1865 may be
read, and always with delight, in the Ibis for
1865 and 1866, and not a little contributed to
his election — by acclamation it may be said — to
the Presidency of the British Ornithologists'
Union in 1867.'

The following is a passage from his diary : —
'June 5, 1867.— The Val de Ordesa ' (in
Aragon) ' is so splendid that it would be absurd to
attempt to describe it. Though several ibex were
seen, no one had a shot. I slept in a shepherd's
hut on chopped straw, and rested well. This
"gentle shepherd" lost two kids yesterday by
a bear. A great deal of guitar playing and
singing. These Aragonese have very fine ears,
and most of them good voices. I was very
much taken with a wild air " Las Montanaras
de Cataluna." '

1 June 6. — The whole of this country is most
lovely. Magnificent pine and beech, and grand
red cliffs soaring up into pinnacles and turrets,
and crowned with snow. The sweet smell of
thousands of wild flowers, the blue of the sky of
old Spain, the birds, the roar of the waterfalls,
the solitude, and many other concomitants have

FACILITY IN LATIN TONGUES 79

made these last two days amongst the most
memorable of my life.'

With the echo of Cosas de Esjpana in ears
and memory I may here mention my brother's
facility in the Latin tongues. French, Spanish,
and Italian came easily to him, and his accent
was extremely correct. He was cosmopolitan to
a degree that few Englishmen are, unless they
have lived much out of their own country.
He did not understand British isolation on
foreign soil, and was ready for conversation
with any intelligent foreigner who came in
his way.

On the steamer that plies between Pauillac
and Bordeaux, when we were shut into the
crowded passenger saloon on account of heavy
rain, and amiability was at a low ebb, my
brother, in spite of his lameness, bore the dis-
comfort with great good humour. He at once
entered into conversation with a self-important
little Bordelais who, with wife and child, was
coming up the river. My brother asked
questions about the year's vintage, the state of
the wine-trade, and other local topics, and the
little Frenchman's voluble answers were not

80 LORD LILFORI)

unintelligent, while his naive view of himself
and his family as the centre, and ' la ville ' as
the nonsuch of the world, amused us exceed-
ingly.

My brother's good ear enabled him readily to
pick up some smattering of the Spanish patois,
as spoken in the provinces he visited. To a
bystander it was interesting to hear the jargon
of the Andalusian peasant understood, and to
a certain extent joined in by a stranger, who
found a pleasure in intercourse with the ' Hijos
de la tierra.' To the language of those
strange, wandering nomads, the Gypsies, he
was much attracted, and in later years of con-
finement to the house he amused himself with
the compilation of a glossary of the Romany
tongue.

I do not propose to go into detailed accounts
of my brother's various absences from England,
or of his life when at home. Of his visits
abroad records remain in the natural history
articles to which I have already referred,
which, in addition to others of a later date,
contain the results of his careful observation.
He made several yachting expeditions in the

BUSTARD SHOOTING IN ANDALUSIA 81

beautiful little ' Zara,' a sailing vessel of some
three hundred tons (once the property of Sir
Allen Young), and in more recent years in the
steam yacht ' Glowworm.' The sea in itself, the
bird life that haunts the ocean, and the skill
necessary to the handling of ships — all these
things interested a man who, with a few ex-
ceptions, was interested in everything. He
kept a daily log on board his yacht, and picked
up odds and ends of marine knowledge from
' sea-dogs ' of any nation with whom he hap-
pened to be thrown in contact. His combined
love of sport and natural history sent him at
once ashore at a fresh port, in search of any-
one who could give him the information he
required.

The following is a characteristic extract from
a diary kept in Andalusia on his last visit to
Spain in the ' Glowworm ' :

' March 30, 1883. — Heavy showers early, but
the sun came out fine and bright about seven.
We started up the Brazo del Este, and found
that Perico had a fine and dry position for me
near the bank on left side, and that there were
great troops of bustards in sight out in the

G

sl> lord lilford

marisma. The others mounted the horses and
went away inland, I remained in my puerto
with a stuffed " Barbon " near me, as a decoy,
and waited happily enough, watching the various
birds, but never thinking of a shot at a bustard
as I was out of the beat altogether, not wishing
to delay the business by my infirmities, or the
digging of a puerto for me out in the wet
marisma. The beaters put up a great many
bustards, and a good many shots were fired, but
I could not see the result : at last one bird flew
most amiably near my " stale " and I knocked it
down.'

The following letter was written to his
brother, who some years afterwards was con-
templating a visit to Spain.

To the Hon. and Rev. Edward
V. R. Poivys.

' Lilford : January 3, 1895.

' My dear Edward, — . . . You could not do
better than take a run to Spain ; about itinerary,
all depends upon when you go. In the mean-
time, you should read up Ford's " Handbook "

LETTER TO REV. E. V. R. POWYS ON SPAIN 83

(Murray, 1855) and take it with you. It is quite
out of date as a guide-book, but quite incom-
parable as an exhaustive work on the country,
its people, their manners and customs. I should
be most happy to lend you this, and another
book or two upon Spain, that might be useful to
you, and I would lay you out a sketch of route,
if you would let me know your probable time
of departure and length of time you can spare*
All seasons are delicious in the coast regions of
Andalusia, but you should not be at Granada
before the end of April. May and June are the
best months for Madrid, Burgos, Valladolid,
Zaragoza, and Leon. With some little notice I
could get you a good guide and interpreter from
Seville, to meet you at any given point.

' Your very affectionate brother,

<L.'

To the same.

' Lilford : January 6, 1895.

' If you start at any time during the next
seven weeks I should make for, say, Avignon
and Aries, if you have not already seen them,
thence to Perpignan, and over the Pyrenees to

G 2

84 LORD LILFORD

Barcelona ; this is the only active town in Spain,
full of shipping and trade of all sorts, in a fine
position, with nothing essentially Spanish about
it. It is well worth going to see the monastery
at Montserrat, whence you get one of the most
magnificent views in Spain. From Barcelona
I should go on and spend a day at Tarragona,
a grand old Roman ruin, thence to Valencia,
one of the most delightful places in the world,
essentially Moorish, with a delicious climate and
surrounded by miles of fruit gardens. Thence
I should recommend you to take coasting
steamer to Malaga. Malaga is a dull town, but
has a splendid climate ; thence it is only sixty
miles by sea to Gibraltar, but a splendid long
two days' ride by land, halting at Estepona for
the night. From Gibraltar I should ship for
Cadiz, where you will find the typical Andalusian
characteristics without much, if anything, of
conventional sight-seeing. A stroll along the
Alameda by moonlight on a balmy evening at
Cadiz is (or was to me) simple enchantment,
but I was only twenty-two when I first landed
there.

' From Cadiz to Seville is about two and

LETTER ON SPAIN 85

a half hours by rail, and if you care to break
the journey at Jeres and see the sherry stores, I
could give you a letter to one of the big wine
merchants. There is an excellent English club,
and some good fellows of our nationality virtually
rule the place. I never left Seville without a
pang of regret, though it is now much modernised
and spoilt. Within a drive the thing best worth
seeing is Italica, and to get an idea of Anda-
lusian country, another drive to Alcala de los
Panaderos. Cordoba is only four hours off by
rail, and the mosque — now the cathedral — is
worth walking barefoot from Calais to see. About
the end of April I should start for Granada. If
you have fine weather, as you are pretty sure to
have in May, I do not think you will be in a
hurry to leave it. You will find the good hotels
in the large towns almost all kept by Swiss or
Italians ; almost all are poorly furnished, but
exquisitely clean, especially in the south, and
bread, wine, and eggs excellent and cheap. . . .
I know but little of modern guide-books ; Vaya
con Dios, and if you only derive a thousandth
part of the delight of Spanish travel that I have
experienced, you will be a happy man. Kead

86 LORD LILFORD

Longfellow's little poeru, "Castles in Spain";

it exactly expresses the feeling of your very

affectionate brother.

'L.'

When in England, his life was chiefly spent
at Lilford, although during the twelve or fifteen
years after his marriage he was well enough to
pay visits to friends in Devon and Norfolk.
His songs and his stories found equal favour in
both counties, and his power of making friends
congenial to him, with his rarer capacity for
keeping them, was a marked characteristic. I
find brief records of visits in Norfolk to the late
Lord and Lady Albemarle, to the Maharajah
Duleep Singh (in the days of the latter' s
princely magnificence and enormous battues
at Elvedon Hall), and to Mrs. Lyne Stephens.
A feeling little short of the warmest affection
existed between Lord Albemarle and my brother,
and although I suppose that even a Scotchman
could not have found the remotest blood con-
nection between the families, it pleased the
kindly and beloved old man to address the latter
as ' My dear kinsman.'

TO TENNYSON. TO LATE DUKE OF ARGYLL 87

Somewhere about 1860 my brother met
Tennyson in the Isle of Wight. A friendship
sprang up between the great poet and the ardent
naturalist, and over their pipes, with all inter-
change of opinion, sometimes in accord and
sometimes in dissent, the unconventionality that
distinguished them both had full play. The
present Lord Tennyson has kindly supplied a
letter written to him by my brother, referring
to a 'tramp' taken with the poet through the
New Forest, in April 1863 : '. . . I remember
distinctly,' my brother wrote, ' that your father
carried with him a little Homer, and I, a Don
Quixote. I well remember, too, that he took
a great interest in several of the rarer birds to
which I called his attention, i.e. the Buzzard,
Pied Woodpecker, and Black Game. Besides
the charm of his everyday conversation, he told
me endless good stories, but what delighted
me more than anything else, was his ever-ready
sympathy with everyone and everything, not
only nihil humani . . . alienum, but every beast,
bird, insect, tree, and flower seemed to be full of
interest for him, as for me.'

In a note to the late Duke of Argyll,

88 LORD LILFORD

(March 13, 1896) my brother again alludes to
this expedition. 'I once had the privilege of
spending a week of wandering in the New Forest
with Tennyson, who asked me to join him at
Lyndhurst. It was springtime and the weather
was lovely, and that week is one of the brightest
and most purely enjoyable of my (thank God)
many delightfully happy epochs in memory.'
He ever after felt the warmest regard for the
great master of poetic expression, who in sym-
pathetic imagining could follow the lark to
where it became ' a sightless song.'

In 1873 my brother took two rooms on the
ground-floor at No. 6 Tenterden Street, Hanover
Square, which was then the headquarters of the
British Ornithologists' Union. Here he stayed
on and off when in town, and 'the den,' as it
was familiarly called, became known to all his
friends. Visitors dropped in during the even-
ing, whist was played, pipes were smoked,
and a running talk was kept up on the passing
topics of the day, and the never-passing topics
connected with zoology. Ladies who were not
afraid of a somewhat smoky atmosphere looked
in on their way to balls and parties, and were

PRIVATE THEATRICALS AT LILFORD 89

sure of a kindly welcome, and of one of the
prettily turned compliments which are amongst
the Cosas de Espaiia. Mr. Lowell, then American
Minister, more than once made his way to ' the
den,' and my brother found he had much in
common with the author of 'The Biglow Papers.'

During the winter months at Lilford, when
my brother was fortunate enough to be at home,
and free from gout, acting was one of the amuse-
ments of the long evenings. I must again lay
to the account of heredity, I suppose, the talent
for acting which my brother possessed.

The sons of the first Lord Holland had been
taught to declaim from their earliest years, but
in the Greek and Latin tongues. These exer-
cises induced a turn for acting, which the old
statesman encouraged, and in which amuse-
ment Stephen Fox l particularly excelled.

A generation later, on the banks of the Nene,
Moliere found interpreters in the elder members
of the second Lord Lilford's large family, and
' Les Precieuses Eidicules ' and other plays
were acted by them, their father supplying pro-
logues and epilogues. In my brother's case, it

1 The second Lord Holland.

90 LORD LILFORD

was not likely that one who could pick up so
easily the accent, tone, and gesture of Irishman,
Scot, and Devonian, and had so keen a sense
of the comic side of things, should be unable
to represent a humorous character. He was, in
fact, a good amateur actor of the type that can
interpret comic scenes with a touch of pathos.
The power of so rendering the intense emotions
of tragedy as to make them your own, is a gift
accorded to few, and to my brother the tragic
element on the stage made no special appeal.

In 1865 the once popular plays of ' Lord
Lovel ' and ' Poor Pillicoddy ' were acted at
Lilford, Lady Alwyne Compton, the Hon.
Mrs. Augustus Legge, the late Sir Percy
Anderson, and others taking part in them with
my brother. Mrs. Legge writes of this time : ' I
recall the enchanting days at Lilford when we
all played together, and dear Lilford's singing

and acting were quite unsurpassed.'

In 1881 my brother spent a considerable

time at Dartmouth on board the ' Glowworm.'

My nephew, Stephen Powys, has sent me the

following recollections of that time :

1 I remember my joy and excitement on

LETTER FROM HON. STEPHEN POWYS 91

hearing that I was to join my father at Dart-
mouth, at the beginning of my summer holidays.
It was settled rather hurriedly, and my joyful
surprise was mingled with a comfortable
assurance that I should be able to do absolutely
as I pleased, for a week or two, for my father
was the most indulgent, as well as the most
delightful of companions. There were others
there of course, but they were older, and I was
only about twelve, and perhaps their " capacity
for innocent enjoyment " was hardly so keen as
a child's. I think no one had seen his happy
nature at its happiest who had not been with
him on board ship. He loved the sea passion-
ately, and was never so well as when on a cruise.
1 We were alone together on board once,
possibly twice, and I remember that my father
got up quite early on those summer mornings
and began his letter-writing before breakfast.
It was my custom to emerge just as he got
settled, and hover about the saloon, first of all
making chocolate to sustain us till breakfast,
and then, I suppose, interupting and distracting
him from his writing. I have no recollection
that he ever rebelled ; at most he would call me

92 LORD LILFORD

touche-d-tout or beg me gently to keep quiet for
a few minutes, until he was ready to be teased
and questioned afresh. I think we were very
completely in sympathy. Then I have memories
of steam-launch excursions up the river, of
picnics, and of lingering in the twilight on the
way back, while my father sang us song after
song, and made the men perform in turn. My
father was never in bad spirits all his life, I
should think, and his cheerfulness was not of
the jarring, hateful type — the resolute mechani-
cal kind. It was really stimulating to be with
him. He made friends wherever he went and
we had many at Dartmouth. Whole days were
spent out in the open fishing for whiting, and
we often went ashore in the evenings to our
friends, my father making the company merry
with his songs of all nations. You have
mentioned his facility for Latin languages. I
have a special favourite among his songs — the
tale, in Sardinian dialect, I fancy — of a father
who goes to the fair and buys toys of many sorts
for his children ; as the articles are enumerated,
the noise appropriate to each — cannon, drum,
trumpet, sheep, donkey, &c. — is roughly repro-

LETTERS ON NATURAL HISTORY 93

duced, and you may imagine the rapture which
father's rendering of this has always caused me
from my youth up. He sang it at Lilford last
autumn, I think.'

The following letters, all dealing more or less
with his favourite pursuit, were written between
1860 and 1885 :

From Hon. T. L. Powys (afterwards Lord
Lilford) to the Bev. H. B. Tristram, D.D.,

f.b.s:

' Lilford Hall, Oundle : August 5, 1860.

' My dear Tristram, — If I get another doubt-
ful fish I will send it to you. Ours is a slow-
running, muddy, weedy stream producing pike,
perch, eels, roach, carp, tench, dace, bream, rudd,
chub, bleak, and gudgeon, and very rarely a
trout. Our county is very rich entomologically
and for so inland a county not bad ornithologi-
cally. I have received a young Short-eared Owl,
and five little Bitterns : these last are very
amusing, and being young I hope to keep them
alive. Those generally sent from Holland to

1 Canon of Durham.

94 LORD LILFORD

Leadenhall Market are old ones, snared round
the head, and almost invariably injured about
the eyes. I am going to have a son of old
Otman's, Oxford's solitary bird-stuffer, here as
keeper of the birds. . . .

' Yours very truly,

' T. L. Powys.'

To the same.

' Gaick Forest, Kingussie, N.B. : August 28, 1864.

* . . . I hope, besides the account in the
Ibis which we have a right to expect, that we
shall be favoured with a detailed account of
your doings in some such form as the " Great
Sahara," which, without flattery of any kind, I
consider one of the most interesting and amusing
books of travel (and I read a good many) that I
have ever met. . . .

1 We are having good sport and tine weather
up here. . . . They told me that in Andalusia
the Great Spotted Cuckoo generally lays in the
nests of Spanish Magpie ; these latter lived in
companies.'

LETTERS TO THE REV. CANON TRISTRAM 95

To the same.

' Lilford : August 12, 1865.

' . . . Your finding the nest of Vultur
monachus (Black Vulture) in a rock in Palestine
is very remarkable. In Spain (at least in the
Guadarrama, where this vulture is very common)
it breeds only in trees. I saw many nests ;
there are plenty of suitable rocks close at hand
in which Lammergeier and Griffon nest. . . .
My young Vultur monachus, which we took
from the nest, flourishes and is very tame.' 1

To the same.

' Lilford : November 13, 1866.

1 Can you suggest to me any means of
procuring a skin of Pallas's Sea Eagle ?
It is the only European Raptor which I have
not in my collection ; I don't know whither to
send for one. . . . You will be glad to hear that
I had young Hobbies from three nests this year,

1 This vulture became one of the most amusing birds at Lilford,
often executing a marvellous dance before visitors to the eagle
house.

96 LORD LILFORD

one in Wiltshire and two in Lincolnshire, from
all three of which the parent birds were spared.
' I have a very fine specimen of Norwegian
Falcon alive ; he was brought from Norway last
year, and has moulted out very clean. It is the
first of its species that I ever saw alive, and it
is most decidedly a very different bird from
either Iceland or Greenland falcon. It has
much more of the Peregrine about it in make
and appearance. ... I have two Lanners and
two Sakers alive.

To Albert Giinther, M.D., F.R.S.

' Lilford Hall, November 7, 1872.

1 Dear Dr. Giinther, — I have warmly to
thank you for your kindness towards my elec-
tion to the Zoological Club, to which I have
long wished to belong, but did not consider
myself worthy.

' I am hard at work at the Lanner Falcons,
of which I have now seven alive.'

LETTERS TO DR. GUNTHER

To the same.

' Lilford, November 24, 1872.

'I was glad to secure Gray's collection of
Plates, and consider that I did not give an
extravagant price for it, but I should have
preferred that it should go to the British
Museum Library, and particularly asked the
auctioneer and Taylor to try to find out if the
Museum intended to bid for it, as in that case I
would not have opposed them. About the Spanish
Lynx, my experience of it is that it is by no
means a mountain-haunting species, though it
does occasionally frequent hilly country, but the
Coto de Dona Ana, and the Coto del Eey are
low sandy wastes, overgrown with evergreen,
scrub, rosemary, cistus, and dense masses of
briars with pines and cork trees, and swamps
here and there. And these are its favourite
haunts. My little Long-eared Bat is still well,
but has become very torpid and does not eat more
than two or three times a week. We have still
an abundance of flies in the windows. ... I
have a tin pot full of bats from Genoa, besides
two bottles of reptiles, bats, birds, &c, from

H

98 LORD LILFORD

Spain, which hitherto I have not been able to
investigate. ... I am surprised to find that
you determine the bat from Las Alcantarillas,
Andalusia, as Vespertilio noctula, as it differs
very much from my other specimens, and I
always considered it as a tree-haunting species,
and there is not a tree worthy of the name
within several miles of the ruin where it was
caught.'

To Lord Walsingham, F.B.8.

1 Lilford : December 16, 1872.

' Dear Lord Walsingham, — I hope you will
forgive the liberty I take in thus addressing
you without having the pleasure of knowing
you personally, but I understand from General
Claremont that you would perhaps like to try
turning out some Virginian Colins (Ortyx
Virginianns), for which birds I should say your
property in West Norfolk is admirably suited.
I have just received a large number, and if you
will accept them I should be glad to make you
a present of twenty pairs, and can supply you
with any number up to one hundred pairs more
at 8s. a pair. I have turned out a good many

LETTERS TO LORD WALSINGHAM 99

here, but we have so many footpaths, and conse-
quently boys, besides foxes and other vermin,
that they have not done so well as I had hoped
they would. They have, however, bred freely,
in spite of three most unfavourable seasons. I
am anxious to get them established in England,
and shall be very glad if you will try some, and
let me know how to address them.

' Believe me, yours truly,

' LlLFOED.'

To the same.

' Lilford : December 19, 1872.

1 1 have just written to John Buckle to say
that I will send off seventy pair of Colins on
Saturday to Watton Station, and have recom-
mended him if he has a good-sized pen or
aviary to put them into, not to turn them out
till April. I fancy that in their own country
they find a great many berries which do not
grow in this part of the world. They are very
fond of crushed Indian corn, and, in fact, any
kind of pheasant food suits them well. I do not
think that they are such devourers of insects as
our own grey partridge.

H 2

100 LORD LILFORD

' I believe you are fond of ornithology (I
know you are of entomology) and it may perhaps
interest you to hear that I have set up a hut
in the Dutch fashion for catching falcons, with
Pigeons, Ash-coloured Shrike, and Dutchman
complete, and that the said Dutchman caught
a fine last year's falcon on Monday. We have
two or three more of them about. I never allow
them to be shot or trapped, but my neighbours
unfortunately do not take the same view. I
fancy that a good many might be caught in our
Midland counties in this fashion. We always
have several^here in the winter months, and in the
winter of '52-'53 when I was at Christ Church
and constantly on the shoot about the river, I
find by my notes that I seldom passed a day
without seeing one or more about Godstone,
Eynsham, Islip, &c. &c.'

To the same.

1 Lilford : December 30, 1872.

1 Here the wildfowl are no doubt the at-
traction ' [to falcons^ ; ' we always have a good
many ducks when we have a flood, and there are

TO LORD WALSINGIIAM AND DR. GUNTHER 101

a good many just now. My brother-in-law,
who was up the river with a punt gun a few
days ago, saw two falcons, one of which put in
two ducks to a ditch close to him, and made
two fine stoops at some herons, bringing them
down to the water.'

To Albert Giinther.

' R.T.S. " Zara," Brixham, S. Devon : July 7, 1873.

1 1 have to thank you very much for your
interesting letter which I received a few days ago
at Southampton, where I am sorry to tell you I
was laid up on board this yacht for about three
weeks. I heard from Lilford a short time ago
that one of our neighbours, a clergyman rather
interested in natural history, had had a bat
(V. noctula) brought to him alive, which the
bearer assured him he had seen struck down by
a hawk : I have no reason to doubt the story
and suppose it was probably a hobby, possibly
a kestrel ; it was between 8 and 9 p.m., and
I know the former species flies late. We have
beautiful weather, and enjoy our sea life very
much. Is there any possibility of your paying

102 LORD LILFORD

us a visit on board soon for a few days ? We
should be most happy to see you, and can offer
you a good berth. We have a small trawl net,
and plenty of lines.'

To the same.

' Toulon : December 21, 1873.

* It seems an enormous time since we
arrived here, as we only stayed four days in
Paris and two nights in Marseilles. The yacht
had a fearful passage and was weather-bound
in Port Mahon for about ten days ; she only
arrived here this day week, and has had to go
into dock for repairs. In the meantime, I have
had a sharpish attack of the enemy, and
though now much better I fear that I shall be
too crippled to do any good in natural history
for a long time. Our two elder boys arrived
here from school yesterday, and are very well.
During the week or so before I was attacked
with gout we drove about the country a good
deal, and I don't think I ever saw any place so
entirely devoid of bird life ; there are, it is true,
a good many gulls in the harbour, but inland
one sees nothing but a very few sparrows and

LETTER TO LORD WALSINGHAM. COLINS 103

an occasional linnet ; enormous numbers of
chasseurs kill or frighten away everything. . . .
You would hardly credit the trouble I have had
about getting leave to carry a gun : no objection
to the fact of my doing so, but the difficulty
about finding the correct official, and the rare
occasions upon which he was at his post.'

To Lord Walsingham.

' R.Y.S. " Zara," Toulon : December 22, 1873.

'Yours of the 15th only reached me yesterday.
I have no Colins to dispose of this year ; in fact,
I find that the foxes and mowing machines in
Northamptonshire are too strong for me and
them, and I am reluctantly obliged to give up
turning out any more, though they did right well
as far as laying goes, and the climate seems to
suit them. You in West Norfolk are not afflicted
with foxes to any extent, and agriculture is a
secondary consideration. I am very glad to
hear that these little birds have succeeded with
you, but were I you I should turn out a few every
season. I enclose a letter I received yester-
day from Jamrach. Ten shillings a pair is too

104 LORD LILFORD

much to give for a large number. I am very
glad to hear that some of your friends are taking
a fancy to them. I consider them a sporting
little bird, and they are, I think, excellent food.
Mrs. Lyne Stephens and the Maharajah have
turned out a good many that I sent to them,
but the latter tells me that they have dis-
appeared. Perhaps his country is too dry for
them. I shall be only too glad if I can be of
any use to you about these birds.'

To Albert GiintJier.

'R.Y.S. " Zara," Genoa: January 24, 1874.

1 We left Cannes on the 19th, but had no
wind till the early morning of the 22nd, and
only got in about 7 a.m. on that day ; however,
the voyage, though very slow, was very pleasant,
beautiful warm sunshine, and the coast scenery
most lovely. I am glad to report a very great
improvement in my health, though I am very
lame and cannot go up and see the museum
and Doria, which I very much regret. The
local collection of birds is excellent, and beauti-
fully stuffed by one De Negri (now, I hear, dead)

LETTER TO COLONEL IRBY— GENOA— NAPLES 105

whom I used to know years ago. This is a
perfect place for migratory birds, and as every-
body carries a gun, many come into the market,
and thence into the museum. I have had great
sport in Sardinia at the torch fishing. All this
part of the Mediterranean is void of good fish ;
here the absence of fish is proverbial : " Montague
senza alberi, mare senza jpesci." However, it is a
most beautiful and interesting old town.

To Lieut. -Colonel L. Howard Irby, F.L.8.

'R.Y.S. "Zara," Naples: February 10, 1874.

' Querido Amigo, — At Genoa I made acquaint-
ance with the Marchese Giacomo Doria, an
excellent naturalist and most pleasant fellow.
He had large collections of his own of local
birds, beasts, reptiles, fish, &c, and also a great
many collected by himself in Borneo and in
Persia. He agreed to present all these to the
municipality of Genoa if they would find house-
room for them and appoint him curator, which
they consented to do. He has a most charm-
ingly fitted up museum, with a good garden ;
the greater part of his foreign collection is in

106 LORD LILFORD

skin, but there is a very fine local collection of
birds, beautifully set up by a girl who is devoted
to her work, and works exclusively for him.
Their great ornithological rarities are Audouin's
Gull, some rare Buntings, Falco Eleanorce, &c.
They have a fine specimen of Francolin killed
in Sicily, and obtained by Doria from a local
collection in that island. Doria gave me
Salvadori's book on the birds of Italy, very well
done and most interesting. . . . We went on to
Spezia, a magnificent bay, about the finest
scenery I ever saw ; there were many gulls —
Mediterranean Black-headed, Mediterranean
Herring, Laughing Gulls, and a few common
gulls. From Spezia we went to Leghorn, where
we only stayed one day, which day we employed
in going to see Pisa, a beautiful and very inter-
esting town. I saw the tomb there of old Savi,
the Beivich of Italy, but with a much greater
knowledge of birds. From Leghorn we came on
here, arriving on Saturday last, having had some
rattling breezes, going sometimes eleven knots,
with occasional dead calm and heavy seas. . .
The swarms of fishing-boats are astonishing ; I
have been out in the gig this morning trying

AT NAPLES ON R.Y.S. ' ZARA '—SPANISH LYNX 107

for gulls, but they seem to know exactly the
range of the gun, and pues nada. I have an
aunt, Lady Holland, living here in a most
charming house ; she is most hospitable, we go
there to-night to dine and sleep. . . . Come out
as soon as you can, you may as well see a new
country as go to Gib, and I sadly want a pal.

' Yours ever,
<L.'

To Albert Gilnther.

' Lilford : August 24, 1874.

I I was very sorry not to be able to go on with
you at the bats and lizards, but though I am
an idle man, my time was so fully taken up by a
thousand little things in London, that I found
it useless to attempt giving two or three hours
to the beasts in pickle. . . .

I I sent a young Felis pardi?ia 1 for the
British Museum, addressed thither, to you
some days ago. It arrived alive, very tame
and in good health, but died in convulsions
about four days after its arrival.'

1 Spanish lynx.

108 LORD LILFORD

To the same.

' Bank Hall, Preston : October 9, 1874.

* . . . I am glad to hear that there was great
exaggeration about the damage done by the
explosion at the Zoological Gardens; it was
quite sufficiently terrible as it was.

'I should think it likely that my Falco
Eleanor a in the new Raptorial house was killed
or escaped.'

To the same.

' Lilford : October 3, 1875.

1 . . . The only autumnal migrants that I
have yet seen are merlin and jack snipe. I
expect ring-ouzel and bramblings every day.
On the other hand, I know of two woodpigeons'
and two stockdoves' nests with eggs. . . . Dresser
showed me two specimens of the new Georgian
Grouse, also a new Pipit from Petchora, obtained
by Seebohm.'

To Lieut. -Colonel Howard Irby.

' Lilford Hall : October 4, 1875.

' I have seen a woodcock carrying her young
one ; it was done by the agency of her legs, but

WOODCOCK CARRYING YOUNG— BOOTED EAGLE 109

I cannot say how. My belief is that they tuck
them between the tarsi and the breast. In
sorting a lot of the old Ampthill collection here
the other day, I found a Muscicapa albicollis
labelled " Coldfinch " ; this was in all probability
a British-killed bird. ... On Wednesday Jones
insisted on my going to shoot off hares, so I
sent for George Hunt and we bagged 33 hares,
1 rabbit, 9 partridges, 2 woodpigeons, and 2 jays.
George Hunt vows that he killed a solitary
snipe which fell the other side of the river ; he
had no dog. He certainly gave a good descrip-
tion of the appearance of the bird, which he had
never seen before alive. I shot a woodpigeon
out of the boat, with his crop crammed with
beechmast ; this is early for that food. I saw
a merlin on Friday, jack snipe on Thursday,
redwing to-day, and heard brambling, and saw
three tawny owls near aviary.'

To Albert Gilnther.

' Bewsey Hall, Warrington, November 7, 1875.

' . . . Spain appears to be the special home
of Aquila pennata l in Europe. We saw no less

1 Booted Eagle.

110 LORD LILFORD

than fifteen nests of that species in Andalusia
in the first ten days of May 1872, and it is also
common in Old and New Castile.

To Lieut. -Colonel Hoivard Irby.

1 Lilford : December 6, 1875.

1 1 had a very good four days' shoot at Lyn-
ford, 445, 554, 816, and 863 head ; 13 woodcocks
out of 25 seen. On that Saturday Jones and
Donald bagged 7 teal, 2 golden plover and
7 snipes ; it was a nasty day, and I dared not
face it. They described snipes and fowl of all
sorts in hundreds. On Monday I went to see ;
there must have been in one spot about 500 in
number, ducks, teal, and widgeon. I got three
shots at teal, and bagged 4. Saw a flight of
about 15 dunlins, and a fine old haggard falcon.
On Tuesday I shot 2 golden eyes, male and
female, near the loch. Sir L. Loraine bagged
only 1 duck and 2 snipes, but he puts in shavings
instead of powder. We have many bramblings
and siskins about. Jones reports goosander
down the river ; I heard wax-wings on Friday.
They got 9 woodcocks at Bulwick on Thursday

LETTERS TO IRBY AND GUNTHER— SNAKES 111

out of some 20 seen. I was to have shot there
Friday, but was stopped by rheumatism. We
have snow a foot deep, and more coming.'

To the same.

' February 3, 1876.

' Ay de mi el buitre ! I don't know why
it should be an escaped bird. I have often
wondered that we do not see vultures now and
then in this country ; there are no end of
Griffons in the Pyrenees about Irun and San
Sebastian, and a strong slant of wind from
E.S.E. or thereaway ought to bring us an
occasional straggler.'

To Albert Gilnther.

' Lilford : October 4, 1876.

' . . . I suspect that my snake is a variety
of T. natrix — as he has the yellow mark behind
the head ; but I only had a cursory look at him,
and could see nothing like T. viperinus about
him. As soon as I can sit up again comfortably
and handle my snakes I will send you a good
specimen of Z. carbonarias and G. leopardinus.
In the meantime I shall be very much obliged
if you will ask Holland whether he could keep

112 LORD LILFORD

a large number of non-venomous snakes on
deposit. ... I suppose Irby has got back to his
forest, where he can shoot at large.'

From Lady Lilforcl to Dr. Giinther.

' Lilford : October 24, 1876.

' My dear Dr. Giinther, — Lilford thanks you
for your letter of the 21st, but he is quite unable
to answer it, being still so ill. I have simply
given orders that all the snakes are to be sent
to Mr. Bartlett, and you will know best what to
do about them.'

From Lord Lilford to the same.

' Lilford : December 11, 1876.

1 1 have had a long and severe attack from
which I am, I hope, at last, surely but very
slowly recovering ; but I cannot walk, and am
confined to two rooms upstairs. The worst of
it is that the fingers of my right hand are so
twisted and crumpled up that I could not hold
a gun, much less pull a trigger. Paul Mollem
told me the other day that he saw four birds
which " should be waxwings." We have had
great floods, and some time ago there were a

FLOODS AT L1LFORD— PHEASANTS— ALGIERS 113

great quantity of dunlins in the meadows. I
have not been out of the house since August 31.'

To the same.

' December 21, 1876.

'I only know what goes on in the dovecot
in Tenterden Street from casual friends who
happen to drop in there, e.g. Irby and my boy
Tom, who wrote that my room was full of White
Falcons, Snowy Owls, and Long-tailed Shavers
[sic]. . . .

'All my pheasants are crossed either with
Phasianus torquatus1 or Phasianus versicolor,2
and the heaviest birds I ever saw were the first
cross between those two species, both parents
being considerably less than Ph. colchicus.3
I have several Beeves' Pheasants out in the
coverts.'

rlo the same.

' September 20, 1877.

' We have taken a house at Algiers for the
winter, and shall be starting in October. I am
so crippled that the prospect of seeing a country

1 Chinese pheasant. ~ Japanese pheasant.

3 The old English pheasant.

114 LORD LILFORD

new to rue has lost its attractions, but I must hope
that my friends' expectations for the benefit I am
to derive from the climate may be realised. . . .
' I have a pair of Scops Owls, very tame and
most charming pets ; I know that they will die
if left at Lilford, and hardly know what to
do about them. Would you care to be troubled
with them ? They require moderate warmth
and not too much food, for they are very vora-
cious ; they will eat beetles, moths, flies, and
birds, as well as any sort of meat, but they
require a good deal of casting, i.e. fur, feathers,
and small bones. I have three beautiful speci-
mens of the Blue-crested Guinea Fowl from
Mozambique.'

To the same.

' Villa Linda, Algiers : January 23, 1878.

' We have had a great deal of cold wet
weather, and I did not feel any benefit from the
change, but lately the weather has been bright
and beautiful, and I am a great deal better,
though I cannot say I like the place ; it is
too French and artificially civilised to suit my
taste. We reared last year at Lilford about

REEVES' PHEASANTS— PRINCE RUDOLF 115

seventy Beeves' Pheasants, and turned them
out. They are very hardy and excellent eating,
but my brother complains that they do not rise
high and give such artistic shots as the other
species. . . .

1 1 am very glad to hear that the Crown
Prince of Austria is an ornithologist. Is it
alive or dead that he wants Aquila aclalberti ? l
In the latter case I shall be glad to offer two
skins for his acceptance ; in the former I have
no doubt that I can get him as many as he
wants next year. There are several interesting
birds to be found in the neighbourhood : for
instance, Panis ultramarimis, which is the
Common Tit of these parts ; and the chaffinch
peculiar to the country, Fringilla spodiogenys. I
have had great pleasure in making the acquaint-
ance of the Abbe Armand David, the Chinese
missionary and naturalist ; he is spending the
winter here for his health, and is a very pleasant
man with a great store of ornithological know-
ledge, and a great deal of modesty. . . .

1 Excuse this horrible scrawl, but the French
never could make paper, ink, or steel pens, and

1 Adalbert's Eagle.

i 2

116 LORD LILFORD

I never could write properly. I find many of
our summer birds passing their winter here,
blackcap, chiff-chaff, &c. You would be de-
lighted with Sylvia melanocephala,1 the typical
bird of our gardens.'

To the same.

' Hammam Rhira, Algeria : May 15, 1878.

' . . . I have sent home alive a pair of
Ixus obscurus 2 which is common in many parts
of this country, but does not nest till June 1.
My total list of birds obtained and seen only
amounts to about 140 species, but I am of course
very limited in my powers of locomotion, and the
state of my hand prevents ray using an ordinary
gun. The climate, however, has done me great
good. We leave this place to-day on an expedi-
tion to the cedar forest of Teniet el Had.'

To the same.

' Bank Hall, Preston : October 6. 1878.

1 The Crown Prince of Austria most graciously
sent me a beautiful miniature of himself ; I am
glad to hear that he had a successful trip on the

1 Spanish blackcap. ~ Dusky Bulbul.

R.Y.S. 'GLOWWORM' AT CADIZ 117

Lower Danube. . . . Seebohm told me that he
was to do the warblers for the " British Museum
Catalogue." I believe that we could hardly find
a better man than Shelley for the Sunbirds, if he
will undertake it. We have had some fun at
Lilford with a Peregrine Tiercel which began to
take partridges well, in spite of our big fences.'

To the same.

< SS. " Glowworm," R.Y.S., Cadiz : February 12, 1879.

1 Du Bocage was exceedingly kind in show-
ing me over the Portuguese collection at the
Museum. I cannot call it a very fine one, but
the interesting part of it to me is its difference
from the Spanish ornithological fauna, which is
certainly remarkable. We arrived here on the
2nd, having had a fearful day on our passage,
and now we are prevented by bad weather from
attempting to cross the bar at the mouth of the
Guadalquivir, on our way to Seville. There are
great tidal flats here swarming with birds,
Herons, Spoonbills, Curlews, Kedshanks, and
many other waders, but they are almost im-
possible to get near, as the waters are so
shallow, and the muds not to be travelled over.

118 LORD LILFORD

Swallows are here now in plenty, and I am
surprised to find two species of Tern — Sandwich
Tern and Little Tern — at this time of year.

' I am exceedingly glad to hear of the
election of Flower. I do not think you could
have chosen a better man.'

To the same.

' " Glowworm," Seville : March 6, 1879.

' The swallows increase in number every
day, and storks have been nearly a month in
the country, and are beginning to select their
nesting-places on the church towers. Tom
shot a hoopoe some days ago. This is unusually
early. I see a great many cranes and wild
geese now on their way north. . . .

' I am very glad to hear of your Royal
Society Medal.'

To the same.

1 Lilford : September 6, 1879.

' The gales we have lately had have driven
in all sorts of sea birds. About a fortnight ago
a fine Scoter was shot near here. Last Sunday
a young Green Shag was caught on a church

LORD WALSINGHAM— BIRD PROTECTION 119

tower near Market Harborough and brought to
me alive, and this morning George Hunt sends
me a Manx Shearwater shot by him not far
from Thorpe. J., I am sorry to say, shot a very
fine male Hobby some time ago, and there is
another about the plantations above his lodge.'

To Lord Walsingham.

' SS. " Glowworm," R.Y.S., Dartmouth : July 18, 1880.

1 Dear Walsingham, — I received yours of the
15th here this morning. I am glad to find that
you like my notes ; they were written for publi-
cation in the "Journal" of the Northampton
Natural History Society, a young but flourishing
association which is already doing some fairly
good work, especially in botany, entomology, and
geology. You can imagine my delight at an
escape after nearly nine months shut up in
London, six of which were passed entirely
within doors. I find myself once more in " mine
ain gude ship," on my favourite element. I
don't know if you have examined the Wildfowl
Act Amendment Bill ; I see no objection to it,
except that it is perhaps open to the charge of

120 LORD LILFORD

over-legislation, but I think if all wild birds are
to be protected by law during a certain season,
subject to the discretion of the owner of the
land which they inhabit or frequent, it is illogical
not to protect their eggs in the same way. I
don't know when it is to come up to us, or
whether I shall be able to be in my place when
it does, but shall be glad to hear from you
whether you agree in my views about eggs, and
whether in case of my unavoidable absence you
would take the trouble to move an amendment
on the subject,

' Believe me, yours very truly,

1 LlLFORD.'

To the same.

1 SS. " Glowworm," R.Y.S., Brixharn : July 22, 1880.

1 Thank you very much for yours of 20th.
I am sorry you do not see your way to doing any-
thing in the present Bill towards the preserva-
tion of eggs, as without that all bird protection
Bills must be futile, but no doubt you are better
posted up than I am in how much the B. Public
will stand. The prices given by certain col-
lectors for certain eggs — I don't mean those

LORD WALSINGHAM— EGG PROTECTION 121

of Great Auk — \vill induce people to run any
risks, and whether the first bird came out of an
egg, or the first egg out of a bird, I think that to
deny the protection to birds in the shell which
we propose to afford to them when out of it is,
to say the least, illogical. However, the Bill is
a move in the right direction.'

rOJ

To the same.

' Lilford : October 24, 1880.

' I am exceedingly sorry that you had the
trouble of coming down early and finding me
gone. I did not expect this additional proof of
your friendship in wishing me God-speed ; all I
can say is that I never spent a pleasanter week
indoors and afield than in your happy hunt-
ing grounds. Fine weather, the best of good
company, good sport — what more can the heart
of man desire ? We saw our first woodcock
yesterday, and fieldfare the day before. I saw a
Kough-legged Buzzard at Lynford, and a neigh-
bour killed five Golden-eyes while I was away
on our river. All this looks like severe weather
in North Europe, which I hope will crowd your
mere with wildfowl.

122 LORD LILFORD

1 Your East Anglian is still ringing in my
memory, and was renewed the other day by H.
Upcher, but I find great difficulty in acquir-
ing it, as my acquaintance with the Devonian
impedes me.'

To Albert Gilnther.

' Neuenahr : June 26, 1882.

' . . . We had a fairly successful cruise in
the Mediterranean and procured twelve fine
specimens of Lams audouini x in the Straits of
Bonifacio, but could not obtain their eggs, for
as fast as they were laid they were carried off
by ravens, and as the nesting-place was at some
distance from our anchorage, and the winds
often tempestuous, we could not forestall the
black robbers. Our other ornithological success
was finding Melizopliilas sardus 2 in great abun-
dance, and obtaining nests and eggs thereof,
also a pair of young falcons from the nest
alive, which I believe to be F. puniceus.3 I also
brought home a turtle, which I see has safely
arrived at the Zoological Gardens ; I should be

1 Audouin's Gull. ■ Blue Rock Thrush.

3 Mediterranean Falcon.

LETTERS TO DR. GUNTHER— AUDOUIN'S GULL 123

glad to hear to what species it belongs. It feeds
readily on small fishes, and nothing else.'

To the same.

' Neuenahr : June 30, 1882.

1 About Audouin's Gull. I should like to
know whether the Museum has a specimen or
not, as I have given one to Dresser, promised
one or two to the Cambridge Museum, and
offered two to Prince Kudolf of Austria. . . .
I have every reason to bless the waters of
Neuenahr, though I fear that my left knee has
become permanently contracted. I do not find
the place dull, as when it is fine I can get out,
and there are plenty of birds to watch, and I
have tried a little fishing. Did you know that
there is growing wild hereabouts a Californian
flowering plant which is found nowhere else, I
am told, in Europe, Colonia grandiflora ? No
one knows how it came here ; it is abundant,
and very pretty. The only drawback to enjoy-
ment here is the immense number of noisy
overdressed people. ... I have no doubt that
Mr. Powell is right about destroying rooks
with a view to protecting other birds. I am very

124 LORD LILFORD

glad to hear of your success with the collection
at the British Museum.'

To the same.

' SS. " Glowworm," Dartmouth : July 24, 1882.

1 1 have been down in these well-beloved parts
for some ten days ; the weather has for the most
part been very mild and wet, and I have only
been able to get out twice to the whiting grounds,
but on my way hither from Torquay we caught
eleven Ling weighing 200 lbs. The Mackerel
and Bass are evidently waiting for fine weather
to come in along the shores. In the meanwhile,
by the unbounded hospitality of Sir Henry Seale
and his family, I have a most delightful home
ashore, about two miles from Dartmouth, high
up, with lovely views. I am, thank God, better
than I have been here for years ; add to this
that Devon is my favourite province, that there
is a very tame Scops Owl presented by me to one
of my fair friends in the house, and three young
Blue Eock Thrushes, a Grey Lag Goose, and a
Herring Gull from the Mediterranean on board,
and you will judge for yourself as to my happi-
ness. I need not say how the said happiness

AN OSPREY ON THE NENE SPARED 125

would be increased if you could come down and
spend a few days with me.'

To the same.

< Lilford : October 13, 1883.

' . . . The chief point of ornithological interest
was the appearance in our valley of an Osprey
on August 23. I saw him closely on the 24th
and 25th, and he was last seen on the 29th. I
could have murdered him easily, as I had my
gun across my knees in the punt when he came
within fifty yards of me, but I spared him and
had the delight of seeing him soar over the park
for ten minutes, and on the following day make
two plunges at fishes on another part of the
river.'

To the same.

' Lilford : October 19, 1883.

' . . . George Hunt not only was at home
but saw and fired two (luckily impossible) shots
at poor Pandion 1 the evening before I saw him.
However, I must do George Hunt the justice
to say that although he is making a collection

1 The Osprey.

126 LORD LILFORD

of Northamptonshire birds on his own account,
and might on two subsequent occasions have
easily killed our feathered friend, he abstained
from doing so at my earnest request. I feel
no doubt about your being quite right about
the interbreeding of the Shag and Cormorant.
I have just received notice from Hanover
Square of the safe arrival at the Gardens of six
snakes from Southern Spain presented by me,
and I have a most delightful letter written in
Spanish by their captor, describing the difficul-
ties of capture and shipment.'

To the same.

' Lilford : October 24, 1883.

' I received yesterday from Liverpool the
first living specimen of Falco Sacer l which I
have had for some time ; it is a fine female in
very fair plumage. Cross, the Liverpool dealer
who sent me this bird, declares that it came
from Africa, a term which in the mouths of the
dealers I have found generally to mean the
Barbary coast, where, as far as my experience
goes, the Saker is exceedingly rare. The farthest

1 Saker.

LETTER TO H. M. UPCIIER 127

westerly occurrence of this species in Europe is
a bird which was shot near Cagliari many years
ago, and is now in the museum there. But
Africa may mean Egypt, where the Saker is
occasionally found. If you should go to the
Gardens, will you inquire specially for me after a
young Asturian bear which arrived there in a
very sickly condition some days ago ? I want
you very much to come and instruct us in vermin
shooting with the aid of Bubo maximus ; 1 an
epistolary friend of mine is training one of these
birds to take rabbits by moonlight.'

To H. M. Upcher, D.L., F.Z.S.

'Lilford Hall : October 23, 1884.

' My dear Upcher, — I am very glad to hear
of your grand sport with the birds.

' We have done well for this grassy, fox-
hampered, footpath, and cur-dog-cursed country,
having bagged over one thousand brace and left
plenty.

' I have only heard of two woodcocks as yet
in this neighbourhood. Have you heard of the
massacre of rarities at Cley by one P ?

1 Eagle Owl.

+&

128 LORD LILFORD

J. H. Gurney, senior, tells me that this P

got sixteen Cyanecula suecia l in a short space of
time. . . . We have been having some splendid
nights with old "Vesta," whom F. Newcome
probably knows and admires. She is the most
knowing falcon I ever saw, and if she gets bored
by "putting in" without killing, goes off and
takes a pigeon, wild or tame, on her own hook
with the greatest ease. Yesterday whilst she
was "waiting on" at a great pitch, she was
vehemently assaulted by a female merlin, the
aerial evolutions of the two noble birds were
lovely to see.

'Nothing would delight John more than a
day or two in Norfolk ; he would soon make a
real good shot.

1 Ever yours, very truly,

'LlLFORD.'

To Canon Tristram.

' My dear Tristram, — ... I am very glad
that you are so much pleased with my coloured
plates ; personally I am not fully satisfied with
many of them, but I think that I may fairly say

1 Bluo-throatcd Robins.

LETTER TO CANON TRISTRAM 129

that they are as yet unrivalled : be that as it
may, they are the best that I can obtain for
money.

' The only remarkable ornithological fact that
I have to communicate is that my old Blue Eock
Thrush, taken from the nest in May 1882, moulted
in September last very thoroughly into a plumage
much resembling, but rather an exaggeration of
that of a nestling bird, all the breast and flank
feathers edged with dirty white, and the plumage
of these parts unusually downy and thick. I
have some other pleasant cage birds — Alpine
Accentors (quite new to me in captivity), Azure,
Crested, and Boreal Titmice, Shore Lark and
others. ' Yours very truly,

' Lilfoed.'

130 LORD LILFORD

CHAPTEK IV

His Marriage to Miss Baillic Hamilton in 1885— Description of
Lilford Hall— Letters from 1886 to 1896. To Mr. Warner, the
Schoolmaster at Lilford ; to Mervyn Powys ; G. E. Lodge
Mr. Cullingford, Taxidermist ; Archibald Thorburn ; Dr. Drewitt
Miss Schletter ; Hon. Lady Higginson ; Duchess of Bedford
Rev. Canon Tristram ; Lieut.-Colonel Howard Irby ; Dr. Albert
Giinther ; Lord Walsingham.

In 1885 my brother married Clementina, the
eldest daughter of Ker Baillie Hamilton, Esq.,
C.B. Perhaps no one craves more for sym-
pathetic companionship than a man who is cut
off from the ordinary pursuits and amusements
of healthy manhood, and when to such a
deprivation are added frequent attacks of pain
and hours of discomfort, a woman's tender
watchfulness and unselfish devotion are bless-
ings of untold value. It is a trite saying that
nursing can be brought to perfection through
the inspiration of love, and my brother proved
its truth. His diaries abound with expressions

LADY LILFORD 131

of loving gratitude for a devotion which never
varied with occasional fluctuations of health.
Nor did love inspire good nursing alone : my
sister-in-law became an observer, and though
her actual knowledge of ornithological matters
might be limited, any statement of hers could
be relied upon for its accuracy.

The following lines were written by my
brother to his wife, Clementina Lady Lilford,
who had been requested to sit for her portrait :

Nor Sun, nor limner's art can give

Thy Heaven-lit smile and features,
The light in which I breathe and live,

My blessings and my teachers.
Seek not, Sweet-heart, for pictures then,

For those complete and whole
As sent by Heaven to comfort me

Are printed on my Soul.

I have mentioned the building of Lilford
Hall in the earlier pages of this memoir. It
seems here a fitting place to give a brief account
of the country home to which my brother was
warmly attached, and for which he longed, in
days of exile at Bournemouth. Lilford has
none of the glories that distinguish so many of

K 2

132 LORD LILFOKD

our old country houses. It is of comparatively
small size, containing about thirty rooms,
not counting those occupied by servants, and
can boast no past inmate of note. There are
no apartments tenanted in bygone days by
makers of English history, no treasured Cax-
tons of priceless value, no exquisite livres
dlieures.

And yet, although one cannot trust a pen
which hardly knows how to write of the old home
in fitting terms of restraint, it is at least safe to
say that, even to strangers, and without any
extraneous sources of interest, the grey time-
mellowed house has a charm all its own. Even
so fastidious a critic as Lady Holland, fresh
from the attractions of Holland House, and not
too well disposed in any sense towards the house
of Lilford, found much to admire in the cheer-
ful aspect and ' liveableness ' of my mother's
country home. One visitor, it is true, on being
taken by the latter through the flower and
kitchen gardens to inspect the school and the
exquisite white-tiled dairy, the round ending
with a walk through the lynches overhanging
the river, uttered no word of praise but only

w v

j 1

H 7

LILFORD HALL 133

repeated expressions of wonder at the large
growth of nettles in the wood !

The house, which is built of grey Ketton
stone, and has a S.S.W. aspect, is ' set,' as
Mr. Robinson writes, ' in noble woods ' and
stands well above the river Nene. The pleasant
ante-room, library, and billiard-room lie nearly
to the east, and catch all the glow and sparkle
of the morning sun. The dining-room, which
contains portraits of Sir Littleton Powys, and
of his brother Sir Thomas Powys, and a good
copy of the ' Concert ' by Giorgione, has festoons
of fruit and foliage over the fireplace, carved in
pitch-pine by Grinling Gibbons. The disfiguring
whitewash which covered them was removed
many years ago, but their effect is slightly
marred by the addition of gilding.

The study, on the left hand as you enter
the hall, has recently undergone a process of
restoration, and the beautiful oak panelling,
which experts pronounce to belong to the
Elizabethan period (being rough hewn and not
sawn through), is now allowed to appear in its
former condition. Upstairs, over the dining-
room, and also facing the front, is the beautiful

134 LORD LILFORD

room with a bow-window which was of use on
many occasions as the stage-room. But of late
years, although used as recently as 1895 for
acting purposes, it was occupied by my brother
as his winter quarters. The stage platform
remained, but was raised and extended so as
to enable the occupant of the wheel chair to
see across the carriage road to the river, and
the old grey bridge which crosses it. There,
too, his quick eye could catch sight of and
identify any bird within his range of vision.
The room made a worthy setting for its owner.
The decorative panels on the walls were painted
by the admirable bird artist Mr. Wolf, and
represent various birds of prey. A likeness
exists, or is supposed to exist, between many of
us and bird or beast of different kinds, and it
was scarcely giving the imagination a very free
rein to detect some resemblance in my brother
— in the finely shaped head, aquiline nose, and
keen, bright eyes — to a grand representative
of the nobler class of ' Eap tores,' in which he
took so keen a delight.

. His winter quarters were shared by many
feathered companions in cages. There in the

LILFORD HALL— THE SITTING-ROOM 135

sunny bow-window was to be seen the Teydean
Chaffinch, a species only found in the high zone
of the Peak of Teneriffe, two Breeches Parrots,
and a Hoopoe. The Black-collared Grackles
had a distinguished stranger of their own kind
beside them in the Chestnut-winged Grackle,
the first bird brought alive to England, from the
neighbourhood of the monastery of Mar- Saba
near Bethlehem ; the favourite habitat of the
species being the caverns and fissures of the
cliffs in the gorge of the Brook Kedron.

North America, South India, Brazil, and
Madeira furnished their quota of feathered
beauty in the Blue Jay and Blue Eobin from
across the Atlantic, the Indian Green-leaf bird,
the Brazilian Troupial, and the Madeiran
Blackcaps. Gould's Finches, the Pied Bock
Thrush, the Bulbul from North India, and
the White-crested Laughing Thrush from the
Himalaya, in common with their companions,
sang, chirped, or twittered according to their
vocal gift, and revealed sundry lovely mark-
ings of wing or tail as they plumed them-
selves in the sunshine. Of the Orange-flanked
Parroquets from Ecuador one had become

136 LORD LILFORD

extremely tame, and looked upon his daily visits
to the breakfast-table as a right, making special
love to any new-comer, taking sips of tea here
and there, and unlawfully robbing the buns of
their raisins.

In front of my brother stood his writing-
table, and there, on what a Presbyterian would
call every lawful weekday morning throughout
the year, he wrote some scores of letters, answer-
ing correspondents, giving help and advice
where needed, and conferring benefits with open
hand and closed lips. Letters of warm thanks
from numberless recipients of his bounty found
their way, at once, to the waste-paper basket,
and of many kindly deeds even my sister-in-law
remained in ignorance. Beside him stood the
revolving bookcase, ready to his hand and
containing books relating to his special studies
and others of general interest. Well-written
books on sport gave him great pleasure, and
literature dealing with the various countries of
our globe — except perhaps Africa, which con-
tinent had less attraction for him than it deserves
— occupied a foremost place in his reading.
Books which gave the results of their writer's

LOVE FOR 'DON QUIXOTE' 137

wanderings with modesty and accuracy, and
without ' brag,' had a great interest for him,
and with the authors of some of them he made
personal acquaintance, or entered into corre-
spondence.

The language that had secured his early
love, found, of course, a place of honour on his
bookshelves. ' Don Quixote,' in various new
editions, appeared there in due course, but
perhaps the old well-worn Spanish copy, with a
list, in his own hand, of the famous books which
had wrought havoc in the brain of their more
famous reader, remained his chief favourite.

When in the harbour of Vigo the pitiless
rain came down day after day and visits ashore
were impossible, my brother, in the saloon of
the ' Glowworm,' which more resembled a
naturalist's den than the ordinary yacht
' drawing-room,' read and re-read the old story
with appreciative comments, and spoke with the
familiarity of friendship of the noble hidalgo
and his proverb-making esquire.

One of the latest additions to his book-
shelf in 1896 was a book on ' Ethnology,' by
Professor Keane, edited by Dr. Gruillemard, and

138 LORD LILFORD

given by the latter to my brother. The subject
was one which had not till then come within the
range of his studies, and it was pleasant to hear
his expressions of interest in the new field of
inquiry presented to him.

Although my brother was not a scientific
botanist, and did not enter into questions con-
cerning the structure of flowering or other
plants, he yet knew a good deal about them in
an indirect way ; for his intimate knowledge of
the class of birds that make plant-stuffs their
staple food included acquaintance with the
materials for their bills of fare. During happy
summer hours, spent in fishing on the barge
which had been made for his use, ' bouquets '
were brought to him of the river plants from
either side of the Nene, and his list of ' flora '
amounted to about ninety specimens. His
memory was naturally retentive, and quickened
by practice it had become an extremely useful
ally. The resident sub-agent at Lilford found
that it was scarcely necessary to bring my brother
plans showing portions of the estate where
improvements were in contemplation, since
every inch of the ground was well known and

BOOK ON BRITISH BIRDS 139

remembered by the landlord who was debarred
from personal visits.

One indoor recreation my brother had, his
interest in which never flagged or abated. This
was the game of whist, and as the result of con-
stant practice and close attention, his memory
for the fall of the cards became absolutely un-
erring. Often in the morning, when the rubber of
the night before and all its incidents had departed
from the recollection of partner and adversary,
leaving not a wrack behind, he would comment
upon the defunct game and its missed or
improved opportunities.

In 1885 he had begun what he frequently
and playfully alludes to in his diaries as his
' great work ' — the ' Coloured Figures of the Birds
of the British Islands.' A great work it is, if one
takes into account the interesting letterpress, and
the beauty of the original illustrations, very well
reproduced, on the whole, by the lithographer's
art. Yet inevitably these lose something of
the charm and artistic grace that distinguish,
in particular, Mr. Archibald Thorburn's work,
since no process has yet been invented which shall
convey the subtle touches due to the painter's

140 LORD LILFORD

individuality, along with the faithful line-by-
line reproduction of the work itself. My brother
took great pleasure in his portion of the under-
taking, verified the foreign names of the birds
with his usual precision, and gave useful hints
and criticisms in the matter of the figures.
Alas ! that the hand, so active in spite of its
crippled condition, and the brain, so readily re-
sponsive to the demands made upon it, should
have been laid low before the work was completed.
Such were the interests and occupations of
days spent in the house ; out of doors during
the summer months he had pleasures of an-
other kind. Lilford Hall, as I have already men-
tioned, stands on slightly rising ground above
the river Nene, a sluggish stream whose waters,
stocked with many kinds of fish, have afforded
amusement — and, in some cases, involuntary
immersion — to the Powys children of succes-
sive generations. My brother's bath-chair was
drawn on to a strongly built barge, and in
this manner he was enabled to spend many
hours on the river with a fishing-rod. One of
the attendants was at hand to bait his rod, or
render any other service that so crippled a

THE TERRACE, LILFORD HALL 141

fisherman might require, and it speaks well for
the master's kindness, and the man's devotion,
that the latter after my brother's death told my
sister-in-law that he had taken charge of the
fishing rod to keep for her, for he ' couldn't
bear ' the thought that anyone should use it
now ' his Lordship was gone.'

On land the bath-chair had other offices to
render to my brother. The terrace, facing
nearly east, is laid out in the somewhat formal
style prevalent in the fifties, with neat beds of
brightly-coloured flowers, and a regiment of Irish
yews on the lower walk whose bulky forms
somewhat disfigure that portion of the fore-
ground. They had one merit : their small
brightly-coloured berries possessed a great
attraction for Kedwings and Thrushes, and it
was a pleasure to my brother to watch the birds
on raiding expeditions, in search of these dainty
morsels of food. A mixed border of plants —
fair to sight and sweet of scent — lies close to the
house, and makes up to a considerable extent
for the stiff little parterres of a bygone taste.
The terrace, however, had other sights than
those of summer flowers.

142 LORD LILFORD

On the grass above the lower terrace, stood,
on wooden blocks, about half a dozen or so of the
most beautiful of the Raptors, Greenland Falcons
and others, while a small aviary contained two or
three pairs of Owls. But these were only speci-
mens of the wealth of bird life that abounded near
the house and about the grounds. As you stood
in the courtyard, or in any place adjacent to the
aviaries, you were greeted with sounds unknown
to the Lilf ord gentry or village folk of some forty
years back. Calls, ' boomings,' whistles, cries loud
or soft, all the varied vocal expression that can
be produced by that wonderful organism a bird's
throat, were vibrating in the air around you.

It was my brother's delight to make frequent
tours of inspection in his bath-chair of the
aviaries and of the pinetum at the back of the
house, where the graceful cranes went through
their dances, or stretched their wings to the
sunshine. It was a help to those interested in
bird lore, and a stimulus to others who knew
nothing of the subject, to have so competent a
guide.

In the autumns of 1886, 1887, 1888, and 1889,
my brother took a house at Bournemouth for

Q

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fa

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TO MERVYN POWYS— MONTAGU HARRIERS 143

the winter months, but his heart was always
at Lilford, and he longed for his return in the
spring.

The following letters from my brother were
written between the years 1886 and 1896 :

To his neylieio, Mervijn Poioys, at Cambridge.

' 45 Brook Street, London : May 9, 1886.

' My dear Mervyn, — The Grasshopper War-
bler is by no means a rare bird, but the nest is
very difficult to find. I should imagine that
most of those found in the Fen are discovered
by mowers when cutting the grass. If your
Montagu Harriers are really nesting in said Fen,
the nest might easily be found by watching the
male bird with a binocular, as he feeds his wife
without alighting by hovering for a few minutes,
and dropping food to her on the nest. In any
case I hope the parents will escape, as this sort
of bird is becoming much too rare in this country.
It is impossible for me to form an idea as to what
the mysterious white eggs brought by Ward may
be, especially as you do not tell me in what sort
of locality or nest they were found. Robins,

144 LORD LILFORD

especially about Lilford, often lay white eggs,
but they have no right to be round ; you will
find as you go on that birds' eggs vary so in-
finitely that it is impossible to correctly identify
them in many instances without seeing the
parent bird at or about the nest. I received the
three Black Terns from Irby in very good condi-
tion. He did not tell me of the cook's desire
to dish them up. I can imagine his feelings on
the subject. It is very warm and trying here in
London ; if I were a Cambridge undergraduate
in robust health, I should be spending most of
my spare time in, on, or about the banks of that

classic stream.

1 Your very affectionate Uncle,

' Lilford.'

To the same.

' London : May 27, 1886.

4 1 am very glad to see that you are taking
seriously to ornithology. If you take to collect-
ing birds, I hope that you will not attach undue
value to specimens because they are killed in
the British Islands ; this is a most fatal mania,
and tends to the destruction of many interesting

ADVICE TO A YOUNG NATURALIST 14:

birds that are only rare because they are mur-
dered immediately on their arrival. The poor
Hoopoe is an instance of this ; many are slaugh-
tered on our coasts every year simply for the
benefit of the local bird-stuffers, who charge a
high price because they are killed in our country.
This bird is common in many parts of the Con-
tinent, and from a scientific point of view its
visits to this country cannot add to its value. I
heard rumours many years ago of a bird-stuffer
in Cambridge (not Baker) who used to go up to
London and buy many of the birds alive in
Leadenhall Market that come from Holland,
such as Purple Heron, Night Heron. Little
Bittern, Spoonbill. This artist used to keep
these birds out of sight, kill them one by one, and
display them in his shop as having been freshly
killed in the neighbourhood of Cambridge, and
obtain from the British-bird maniacs something
like 150 per cent, on the price he had paid for
them. If you mean really to take to ornithology
you cannot do better than constitute Alfred
Newton as your Gamaliel, and adopt the fourth
edition of Yarrell as your text-book, but I hope
that you will extend your interest beyond our

L

146 LORD LILFORD

shores, and take up, at all events, the birds
Europe. I have never seen the Cambridge
Museum, but understand that it is very good —
one of the best in England .... I think with
Yarrell, White of Selborne, and any recent
ornithological works in the library in Cambridge,
you ought to make a good start, but there is
nothing like personal observation in the fields
and woods, and let me recommend you to keep
notes of what you see and hear, and consider
nothing too trivial to jot down. You can at any
time see five Great Auk's eggs, to say nothing
of a very fine specimen of the bird and a
skeleton, at No. 6 Tenterden Street ; these are
the property of your affectionate, and I hope
revered uncle.'

To the same.

1 Lilford : July 15, 1886.

1 The chief news here is the appearance of a
Night Heron on Tuesday evening, seen by Irby
pretty nearly exactly in the same spot near
Aldwinkle where I saw one in 1868. I am very
anxious to preserve this bird alive ; there is no
reason he should not live happily through the

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o

a
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v.

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TO MERVYN POWYS— DUCK SHOOTING 147

summer months on our river, as George Hunt is

away.

' I hope to get the third number of my book
out before very long.'

To the same.

' Lilford : August 4, 1886.

1 The idea of an owl trap is perfectly repug-
nant to me, still more that of a buzzard caught
therein. The owls are distinctly beneficial to
man from the number of rats and mice that they
destroy. Did. not your respected uncle get the
owl put into the protected schedule ? When I
knew Wales, alas ! a long time ago, buzzards
were by no means uncommon either in N. or
S. Wales ; but gamekeepers do not discriminate,
and for the most part their masters do not care,
and reckon as vermin everything that is not
game, so that I suppose the buzzards are dis-
appearing in Wales as they are elsewhere ; but
I am glad to hear on good authority that a pair
of Kites still linger in the county of Carmarthen.
The latest about the Night Heron is that he has
often been seen by Hall about dusk, fishing in
the Wadenhoe mill-pool, and within the last

l -2

148 LORD LILFORD

two days by Dr. Drewitt. Cosgrave took three
young Hobbies from a nest in Barnwell Wold on
Saturday ; these are the first that I have ever
obtained from that particular locality.

' Tom Burroughes tells me that a stork has
been seen at Ketton.'

To the same.

' Bournemouth : December 13, 1886.

' If you want to kill ducks at evening flight,
and bag them, you must have a retrieving dog ;
it is a crime to leave them to the mercies of the
foxes and crows. I would rather use No. C shot
than 4, but I think that 5 is the right thing.
You will find that the ducks will soon shy
the flighting-spot after being shot at for two
or three nights. If there are any partridges
their first evening call is the best signal
for the right moment to be at the flighting-
place. ... If it will not make you unhappy
to see a crowd of ducks without shooting, go
and see the decoy at Coombe Abbey, Lord
Craven's place.'

LETTERS TO MR. WARNER 149

To Mr. Warner?

' Bournemouth : January 21, 1887.

' I am much obliged to you for your letter
of 19th, and your natural history notes. I
only wish that others about Lilford who have
more time at their disposal, and better oppor-
tunities for this sort of observation, would keep
a diary, with accurate dates and localities, for as
a rule I never hear of these things till my return
to Lilford ; not always then, for dates and other
particulars which have special interest for me
are forgotten. Stretton is a good observer, and
Cosgrave has a good knowledge of birds. I
don't think that anyone else knows a "hawk
from a heronshaw " except the gamekeepers, who
look upon everything that is not game as vermin,
though I hope and believe that I have now per-
suaded them to spare the owls, about the most
useful of British birds. . . .

' I am afraid that the weather must interfere
a good deal with attendance and school progress,
but I hope to hear as favourable a report as one
can fairly expect in such circumstances.'

1 For many years the schoolmaster at Lilford.

150 LORD LILFORD

To the same.

' February 22, 1887.

' I have to thank you for another instalment
of your observations. I will ask Porter to send
you a copy of the book that I mentioned ; in the
meantime you are most welcome to borrow an)
books that you like from my zoological library.
For the latest and most correct information
about British birds I recommend the fourth
edition of Yarrell, but the figures are not coloured
and most of them indifferent. For very good
account of habits, and tolerable coloured figures,
I should advise Meyer's " British Birds " in seven
volumes, but a good many new species and a
great deal of new information have been brought
to light since this book was published. For
really beautiful and correct coloured illustrations
of British birds, you will find Gould's great work-
on that special subject in the library, but the
books are so large that you would require a boy
to help you to carry them from the house. It
would be a treat for any intelligent and deserving
pupils to be shown through these volumes, and
you are quite at liberty to use them in that way
if you think well.'

WILD PUFFIN IN LONDON 151

To F. Dawtrey Drewitt, M.A., M.D.

' Bournemouth : May 20, 1887.

' My dear Drewitt, — . . . The misguided
Puffin x reached me safely this morning, and I
have by second post received your letter about it,
for which I am obliged. I have sent a notice to
the Morning Post, the correct channel for infor-
mation of the arrival of distinguished travellers
to the West End, and I have written a note of
the occurrence to Harting, the Ornithological
Kecorder for Middlesex, asking him to notice it
in the Zoologist. A young Puffin was picked
up not very far from Thrapston last January,
and sent for me to Cosgrave, who managed to
keep it alive for about a fortnight. ... I have
been very well of late, but, like Sterne's Starling,
"I can't get out " . . . .

1 Yours very truly,

1 LlLFOED.'

1 The puffin to which this letter alludes, mistaking rows of
London houses for its native cliffs, one night in May flew down a
chimney of No. 45 Brook Street, a house my brother had lately
occupied. There is an account of it in British Birds, vol. vi. p. 96.

]52 LORD LILFORD

To the same.

' Lilford : July 7. 1887.

' I am much obliged to you for your letter,
and the magazine and engravings ; I had seen
some of Mr. Lodge's work before. His drawings
are admirable ; I must try and make acquaintance
with him.

' My good friend, F. H. Salvin of falconry
renown, writes that a man bathing in a canal
near Guildford was suddenly attacked by twelve
stoats and badly bitten in the thumb, but a
passer-by came up, and after killing three of the
vermin the others took to the water and escaped.

I My nephew Mervyn is much delighted with
Shetland and the birds, and seems to have
found most of the eggs for which he went. I
have just had a huge barge sent up from
Peterborough, into which my chair can be
bodily wheeled with me in it.'

To the same.

' Bournemouth : November 20, 1887.

I I am much obliged to you for your note of
17th, with information about Crossbills. They

LETTER TO G. E. LODGE— FALCONS 153

are tempting birds, but with 2 Nutcrackers, a
Hill Mynah, a Bush Quail, 2 Bullfinches, a
Shama, Old Sardo,1 and 12 Mud Lizards— Molge
Waltlii, we have about as much as Mrs. Milne
can well attend to in addition to an adult
specimen of Homo arthriticus. I heard from
Irby of his campaign in Trafalgar Square. I am
expecting some good birds from Malaga. They
are coming by ss. " Mogador." '

To George E. Lodge, F.Z.S.

' Lilford : April 24, 1888.

' Dear Mr. Lodge, — I presume that w7hen
you wrote that the Shahin looks very like
" Barbary Falcon " you referred to the birds
which are often sent to Leadenhall Market from
Mogador, and I believe that these birds are
truly of the species to which that name was
given by old English writers on falconry, but
they are decided^ not the Falco barbarus of
0. Salvin (of Ibis 1859, with plate by Wolf).
These hawks from Mogador are a small race of

1 A very tame Blue Rock Thrush, for thirteen years his constant
companion.

154 LORD LILFORD

true Peregrine which is common almost through-
out the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean,
and is Falco panic us of Le Vaillant and of
J. H. Gurney, Esq. (Ibis, 1882). I can see very
little difference between Falco barbarus (Salvin)
and this Red-naped Shahin (F. babylonicus)
except in size, but the latter is the prevalent
Eastern form. Salvin's F. barbarus seems to
be uncommon everywhere. I have seen a great
many F. panicus from Mogador, but only two
of F. barbarus. Falco babylonicus never has a
blue head. ... I have a fine male Saker, but
have little belief in this species for falconry in
this country ; they require great open plains
to show themselves to advantage.'

To Archibald Thorburn, F.Z.S:

' Bournemouth : May 20, 1888.

' Dear Mr. Thorburn, — I quite see the force
of your remarks about the Berlin lithographic
firm as to heaviness and thickness of feather
lines, but I am on the whole fairly well satisfied

1 This and the following letters to Mr. Thorburn show the keen
interest my brother took in the ' Figures of British Birds,' and his
continual endeavour to have them as true to nature as possible.

ALBINO JACKDAWS AND BADGERS 155

with them, and after 's miserable travesties

of your drawings, these look perfect.

' Believe me, yours very truly,

' Lilfoed.'

To Mr. Cullingford.1

« Lilford : August 8, 1888.

' I received your letter, and the stuffed birds
arrived safely this afternoon. I am very much
pleased with them all, and you have been
wonderfully successful with the re-stuffing of
the old ones. ... I do not think that better
specimens of stuffing and mounting from skins
can be seen than your Spotted Eagle and the
Harriers.'

To F. D. Drewitt.

' Lilford : October 14, 1888.

'I have seen but few of the continental
zoological gardens, but am well aware that ours
are in comparison very defective in arrangement

1 My brother towards the end of his life had the pleasure of
seeing a large number of his bird skins, which had been badly
stuffed, admirably re-arranged and set up by Cullingford, the
taxidermist, of Durham. Mr. Cullingford writes of my brother, ' I
received the utmost kindness from his Lordship ; his memory will
always be dear to me.'

156 LORD LILFORD

and many details, though the collection is quite
unrivalled in the number of species. . . .

' I hate varieties and albinos, but am the
happy possessor of two milk-white jackdaws
from Germany, to say nothing of the sandy bad-
gers that you wot of.'

To Lieut. -Colonel L. Howard Irby, F.L.S.

' Fontmel, Bournemouth : November 8, 1888.

' We had a successful journey hither, and a
lovely day for it. I hope that this change has
brought some stuff into Tiree, but if you are not
satisfied with over twenty couple of snipes in a
day, I am afraid that you will find it hard to
satisfy yourself in British localities. This N.E.
wind was foretold at Lilford by the appearance
of a fine young male Golden-eye shot on
the 3rd, and by two Jack Snipes snared at the
decoy. I have no news worth telling. A
readable article in the Ibis is " Winter in South
Spain," by Abel Chapman. I have lately be-
come possessed of two (to me) interesting
birds, both to the best of my knowledge new to
our Northampton list, viz. Spotted Redshank,

LETTERS TO COL. IRBY— GLOSSY STARLINGS 157

young male shot at Canon's Ashby on August 28,
and not by any means badly stuffed by an
artist at Banbury, and a Kosey Pastor, male
shot by Colonel Cottingham, E.A., in his
garden near Weedon on September 12, and re-
corded in one of the October numbers of the
Field. It is miserably ill-treated by some local
malefactor, but by no means a bad specimen,
and in the hands of Cullingford of Durham, to
whom I have sent it, will I hope turn out a very
fine bird. Father Jamrach has sent to me at
Lilford two more Nutcrackers, and hither two
very beautiful Glossy Starlings from West
Africa. I have got a letter out of Stark with a
promise of detailed notes on his Spanish bird
experiences. I am putting together all I can
gather on birds of Spain from my own experi-
ences, your book, the local catalogues, Arevedo,
Chapman, Saunders, and others.'

To the same.

' Bournemouth : November 20, 1888.

' The absence of Pintail in Tiree is certainly
remarkable, all the more so as they are common
enough in certain parts of Ireland in winter ; the

158 LORD LILFORD

great outward move of Scoters certainly is on
our east coasts. I hear of 9 or 10 woodcocks
seen in one of the Drayton coverts. Stark ! has
just sent me another batch of Spanish bird notes,
containing certain things quite new to me and
highly interesting. Cosgrave tells me that the
Shag which has been at Lilford for more than
four years has during the last week for the first
time assumed a crest. Surely this is an extra-
ordinary time of year for this adornment. . . .
I believe that the Purple Heron whose capture
was announced in the last issue of the Field was
that which I turned out at Lilford in July.'

To F. D. Drewitt.

1 Bournemouth : January 20, 1889.

' . . . We have had four lovely bright days
here, Starlings reappearing in force after a long
absence, Blackbirds in full song, Song Thrushes
piping up, and Coal Tits very busy and vociferous.
We hope that you may be able and willing to
run down to us here for a Sunday whenever it
may suit you to do so. . . . Can you get for

1 Dr. Stark's sudden death at Ladysmith, and his pathetic
request, ' Take care of my cat,' are fresh in everyone's memory.

LETTER TO LORD WALSINGHAM— GYPSIES 159

me the locality, date, and approximate number
of Sand-grouse mentioned to you by Mr.
Hamond ? I see that several have been recently
killed in Norfolk.'

To Lord Walsingham, F.B.S.

' Lilford : October 16, 1889.

' Dear Walsingham, — During my winter's
imprisonment at Bournemouth I took up the
study of the Romany tongue, and found a
great deal of interest therein. Borrow's books,
"Lavengro," "Romany Rai," "The Gypsies in
Spain," and the "Romany Lavo Lil " are most
interesting, and I had his vocabulary transposed
for my own use, rather a work of supererogation,
as a very fair vocabulary of Romany-English
and English-Romany by Smart and Crofton is
in existence. So many authors have gone into
details about the origin of the tongue, and the
manners and customs of this very extraordinary
race (who are fast dying out as a pure-blooded
people in Europe), that it is not for a beginner
to attempt authority on the subject, but I will,
if you care to have it, very willingly lend you a
list of books, some of them most amusing. . . .

160 LORD LILFORD

I have had all my Eomany books bound in the
old Romany-Zingari colours. ... I am very
glad that you like my last number.

' Yours very truly,

' Lilfoed.'

To F. D. Brewitt.

' Bournemouth : November 28, 1889.

1 If you have any time for bird-collecting in
Egypt I should be greatly obliged if you could
preserve for me any of the Chats or Wheatear
family of birds that you may meet with. If
you should be able to do this, it would add
greatly to the value of the specimens if you
would affix a little card-label to each with sex,
date, locality, colour of irides, beak, legs, and
feet indicated thereon. The birds of Lower
Egypt are well known. I strongly recommend
you to ask Porter for a copy of Shelley's " Birds
of Egypt," and hereby beg j^ou to accept the
book as a little memento of me.

' I hear that has lost all his ancient

sporting energy ; at all events he now prefers
the pursuit of long-tailed poultry and the brown
rabbit of commerce.'

PROTECTION OF BIRDS OF PREY 161

To George E. Lodge.

' Lilford : December 22, 1889.

' If you have not yet sent your article on
" Vermin " to the publishers, I hope you will insist
upon the fact that in England no bird of prey is
now sufficiently common to do any appreciable
amount of harm to game, except the sparrow-
hawk. The Falcon will, and does, kill Grouse,
but I would pass over that fact as gently as
possible, without denying it (there is harm in
overstating one's case) ; but you may safely rest
the Falcon's claims to protection from a sporting
point of view, as a bird that affords the very
highest class of sport to those who have the
true sporting instinct. The Kestrel will poach
on young game at the coops occasionally, but
may well be defended on account of its beauty
and the great good it does in destroying field-
mice, voles, and noxious insects. The Merlin
can do no real harm, and the Hobby needs no
defence.'

M

162 LORD LILFORD

To Archibald Thorbuni.

' Bournemouth : January 14, 1890.

1 . . . I have this morning received your
letter and the drawings. The Snowy Owls
cannot be improved upon, but I think that the
Squatting Grebe, admirable in attitude and
colour as it is, must have been figured from a
specimen not fully adult, or losing the nuptial
plumage, as the " horns " in an adult bird are
decidedly greyish. The tippet is longer than
in the picture, and its outside margin black or
nearly so, the edges of the feathers on back
have greyish margins, and the breast and fore-
neck should be of quite glistening snowy white ;
the legs and feet are a shade too light-coloured,
though of the right style of green. I am by
no means really satisfied with the razor bill,
though I think it is improved.'

To the same.

' April 20, 1890.

' I am sending you with the drawings two of
Baillon's Crakes' skins. In habits and attitude
they exactly resemble the Little Crake. Both

PLATES FOR BOOK ON BRITISH BIRDS 163

these skins were adult males. If you can borrow
a young bird anywhere I should like a figure in
the young plumage ; the principal difference is
that in the young bird the chin and upper part
of the neck are nearly white, and the lower neck
and breast barred with brown ; bill like that of
Little Crake.'

To F. D. Drewitt.

' Lilford : May 18, 1890.

' . . . Stretton brought in a Hawfinch's nest
with five eggs yesterday, taken near the aviarj^,
the first sitting of eggs I ever had from this
neighbourhood, though many young birds have
been brought to me at various times. . . .'

To Archibald Tliorburn.

' Lilford : July 31, 1890.

1 The drawings and plates arrived this morn-
ing. I have nothing but unqualified admiration
to bestow upon them, and Mr. Lodge, who is at
least as good a judge of birds as I am, and an
infinitely superior critic of art, is entirely of my
opinion.'

M 2

164 LORD LILFORD

To the same.

' Lilford : August 31, 1890.

' I would rather have the bill of Great White
Egret made bright yellow as I never saw a Euro-
pean specimen with a black bill, and I have just
come in from having a look at my three-year-old
bird here, who has the entire bill bright yellow,
rather deep-lemon colour. Your irides and cere
are all right ; legs might be a shade greener, i.e.
less grey. Black Kite perfect. . . . Does not the
brown cap in adult Brown-headed Gull come
rather too far back behind the eye ? I like the
attitude of the bird stretching its wing in the
background greatly. I shall be much obliged
if you will put in hand Curlew, Waterhen,
Guillemot, and Brent Goose if they are in good
plumage now; but all these water birds and
waders are at their best in dead winter, or at
pairing time.'

To the same.

' Lilford : October 17, 1890.

' I have this morning received four proofs,
with your original drawings, from the Queen
Square ladies. I think these proofs all excellent,

AUTUMN MIGRANTS— THORBURN'S DRAWINGS 165

far superior to all but a few of the later ones
from Berlin. The only defects that I can
detect are that the breast of Grebe is hardly
silvery-white enough, and the colour of the
irides in principal Snowy Owl figure rather
too dark.'

To F. D. Drewitt.

' Lilford : October 30, 1890.

' . . . I was never at Biskra . . . but the
sport par excellence of the North African desert
is hawking Houbara Bustards, Sand-grouse,
Gazelles, and Hares ; but I suppose that the
French make the Sheyks go to a " bureau " for
leave to keep a falcon, to another for a licence
to ride, to a third for a permis de chasse, to a
fourth for a Government stamp thereunto, and
to half a dozen more for leave to use hoods,
jesses, and bells, to be allowed to buy bacca, &c,
&c. . . .

' I saw Kedwing on September 24, Brambling
and Grey Crow October 8. A Woodcock, the
first of the season, was shot by Cosgrave close to
our boathouse on October 20. . . .'

166 LORD LILFORD

To Archibald Thorbum.

' Lilford : November 22, 1890.

' The four new drawings are quite beautiful ;
the only criticisms I would offer are that in
the Bustard picture the distant groups of birds
look too dumpy, i.e. short-legged and, if I may
use the term, not dignified enough in attitude
for this very stately species. Professor Newton
has offered me the loan of a specimen of Sabine's
Gull in full breeding plumage, and I will ask
him to send it to you, in case you should find
that any alterations would improve your figure,
which is very beautiful as it is. I should be
very glad if you could introduce a Tern in first
young plumage into the background of the Tern
picture.'

To the same.

'Lilford: January 20, 1891.

'I am sending you to-day four skins of
Pomatorhine Skua from the coast of Norfolk,
and a skin of Boss's Wedge-tailed Gull lent
to me by Professor Newton. You will probably
be able to borrow a more fully adult P. Skua
than any of these from Dresser, but there are

CANON TRISTEAM-AUDOUIN'S GULL 167

some good varieties of plumage in these. If you
do not think that three figures would crowd a
plate too much, I should like to have the most
fully adult bird that you can procure as the
principal foreground figure, the most uni-coloured
bird of those sent in the near background, and
one of the strongly barred birds on the wing.
If this is too much for one plate we must have
two, with adult and strongly barred young one
in first, and two of most widely divergent types
in the other, a flat sea-coast scene.

' In Ross's Gull I should be glad if you could
make the wedge-shaped tail as conspicuous as
possible, and the breast may be brilliantly rose-
coloured. An Arctic-sea scene with cloudless
pale-blue sky and broken ice-floe, not bergs, will
best suit this plate.'

To Canon Tristram.

' Lilford : March 31, 1891.

1 Thank you very much for your friendly
thought in reporting progress up to Colombo, in
your letter posted at that port on the 8th.
Since the lighthouse has been established on
Alboran, I fear that Audouin's Gull has had but

168

LORD LILFORD

a poor time. ... A. Newton has managed to
get two silver medals of Zoological Society
awarded, in my opinion most properly, to the
owners and protectors of Great Skuas in Shet-
land. . . . Wheat-ear and Chiff-chaff arrived
here this morning. ... I shall expect a brood
of Steller's Sea Eagle alive before the summer
is out ; he who obtains Lacerta Simony i alive
can obtain anything. More power, good health,
long life, and all sorts of good things to him,
including a happy return to his native country.'

To Archibald Thorbum.

' Lilford : April 29, 1891.

'I return the two drawings, and should be
glad if you will put them in hand with the
Berlin people, who are keeping me waiting for
many plates. I am very sorry to hear that your
pictures have been crowded out at the E.A., and
wish that I could think that equally good ones
had been crowded in.'

To the same.

< Lilford : July 18, 1891.

1 1 should prefer Eared Grebe on the water,
and the drawing taken from an older specimen,

LETTERS TO ARCHIBALD TIIORBURN 169

without the white spots on the cheek. I think
that a figure in the background in the plain
young or winter dress might well come in.'

To the same.

' Lilford : July 24, 1891.

' The two G-uillemot pictures and the Little
Egrets are quite perfect, but I find that the
naked space between the eye and the beak in
my Egrets is tinged with a shade of green. Do
what you like about any alteration, as the slatey
tint without green is no doubt correct in certain
stages of this species. I believe that you took
the original sketches from life here, and no doubt
the birds may have changed slightly since you
saw them.'

To the same.

'Lilford: August 16, 1891.

1 1 consider the last batch of drawings all but
perfection. The Griffon could not be improved.
The Grey Lag is excellent, but to my eye rather
too plump. The Cormorant is perfect, except
that the cuneate shape of the tail might be more
indicated. The Wood Sandpiper is the only
one that I can really find fault with ; he ought

170 LORD LILFORD

to be on the ground, his legs are rather too long,
and his whole coloration is too light. I should
guess that the specimen from which you took
the drawing must have been a young bird in
autumn plumage. There should be several
Wood Sandpipers in my drawers in Princes
Street, from South Spain.'

To F. D. Dreivitt.

' Lilford : September 22, 1891.

' . . . I have a good many new and very
interesting things here, and wish that you could
run down for a Sabbath and have a look fit
them — inter alia, the first Great Black Wood-
pecker that, as far as I know, has ever been
seen in this country; you would be interested
in observing that in this bird the pupil is not
in the centre of the iris, being a good deal nearer
the gape than the occiput.'

To Archibald Thorburn.

' Lilford : October 5, 1891.

1 The Snow Goose is excellent. I may say
the same of the Quails, but should like an old
male in spring plumage with a dark chin. Mr.

GREAT BLACK WOODPECKER— SNOWY OWLS 171

Walter Eothschild has, through Dresser, offered
to allow me to have a drawing taken from a
Spotted Eagle in his possession recently caught
in Essex ; I believe that the bird is at Tring.
I should be glad to have a drawing from a
British specimen.'

To F. D. Drewitt.1

' Lilford : November 22, 1891.

' . . . This morning arrived the contents of
the gizzard of P. martins. I wish that I could
obtain these black ants for my bird, as I used to
do through Father Jamrach from Germany ; but
he assures me that the big men in that country
have found out their value for pheasant rearing
and as food for black game, and will not allow the
foresters to collect them. Where did you find
the bird ? I have once or twice come across a
specimen in Leadenhall Market, sent over in ice
with parcels of Norwegian game. The note of
P. martins is very remarkable, and may almost
be called musical ; at all events, it suits the
surroundings. Rough-legged Buzzards are fre-

1 In answer to a letter accompanying a packet of black ants
taken from a Great Black Woodpecker killed in Norway.

172 LORD LILFORD

quent this year ; it has been a great lemming
season in Scandinavia, and these buzzards and
many other Raptorial birds follow the hordes.
I heard from a friend who has a shooting near
Trondjhem that Snowy Owls were breeding in
great numbers on the field. He sent me two
young ones, and a young Rough-legged Buzzard
alive. Snowies were a drug in the London
market. I received two more Rough-legged
Buzzards the other day from Valkenswaard, in
Holland, where they were taken by the
mynheers engaged in catching falcons for our
club and others. Grey Phalaropes have
swarmed all over the West and South of Eng-
land ; the ss. " Tyne " passed through hundreds
swimming gaily in the middle of the Bay of
Biscay six weeks ago. . . .'

To Mr. Cidlingford.

' Lilford : February 3, 1892.

I have the remains here of what was in its
day a very fine collection of British birds ; many
of them are in good preservation, though very
badly mounted. They have been stuffed nearly
a hundred years, but I fear that most of them

LORD HOLLAND'S BIEDS— RINGED PLOVERS 173

have " hard bodies." Besides these, I have
many odds and ends collected in my school and
college days, not worth much, but too good to
throw away. I should be very glad if you could
manage to come here for a day or two, and look
through the lot.' l

To F. D. Drewitt.

1 Lilford : March 24, 1892.

' . . . Thanks very much for the Japp
Falconry book just received. ... A Peregrine
(female) stooped at a wooden decoy wood-
pigeon on the ground near this some years ago,
knocked it from its peg, and broke her leg in so
doing. . . .'

To the same.

Lilford : May 29, 1892.

' . . . About Kinged Plovers a good deal has
been urged in favour of the existence of two
well-marked distinct races of our common
JEgialitis hiaticola. On this subject I, knowing
nothing, will only say that I do not consider the
theory as " proven " ; but that some of these

1 The collection alluded to in this letter was left to my brother
by Lady Holland.

174 LORD LILFOIID

Plovers come to our shores whilst others are
sitting, I know to be a fact, as it is in the case
of wood-pigeons and many other northward -
bound birds. I envy you your bird show at
Abbotsbury and on the Chesil bank. We cut
out the little Woodpecker's nest on Thursday.
It contained five eggs, of which we removed
three.'

To the Hon. Lady Higginson.

' June 12, 1892.

: ... As you do not blame me for, but
merely allude to the fact of my long epistolary
silence towards you, I will not attempt a defence
except so far as reminding you that I wrote
last ; in fact, I never leave any letter unanswered
for more than a day or two, and am far too fond
of receiving yours to omit replying to them
almost invariably by return of post. Don't take
this as in any sense intended reprovingly. You
have, of course, no end of things to think of and
write about, both on duty and pleasure, and all
I have to say is that I hold very precious the
kindly remembrance that prompts you to write
to me at all ; I only wish that I could show

LETTERS TO HON. LADY HIGGINSON 175

my gratitude by sending you anything worth
reading. Don't believe that I write too much,
the fact being that when I can get out I do not
write nearly so much as I ought, but it is also
true that there is hardly a day in which I
cannot find some all but absolutely necessary
writing, enough to fill up the whole of my waking
hours ; this I look upon in my crippled condition
as the greatest blessing, but it certainly does
very seriously interfere with my reading no end
of books that I feel I ought to read. . . .'

To the same.

' December 13, 1892.

1 . . . You ask why there are no Crows at
Bournemouth, and rather surprise me ; if you
mean Books, they are probably feeding in the
water meadows and on the ploughed lands of
the Avon and Stour valleys and roosting near
their feeding-grounds, but a good many used to
nest in and about Bournemouth ; as for Crows
propreme?it dits every man's hand is against
them, but there was a nest generally in a scrap
of pine wood to the right of the road just before
you come to the dip to Boscombe. There are not

176 LORD LILFORD

likely to be more than a pair or two about at
this time of year, and they no doubt are busy
questing for prey along the shore during the
day. There were a pair in the spring of 1887 in
the firs between your present abode and that of

Mrs. D ; they had a nest, but I could not

discover it for want of locomotive powers.

' There — dear lady, you have set me upon
my hobby, and are punished accordingly.'

To F. D. Dreivitt.

' Lilford : February 14, 1893.

' . . . The feathers that you enclose ' are
without any doubt from Reeves' Pheasant, of
which species I know that a good many have
been turned out in Inverness-shire.

' The Crested Tit is very local, and may be
found in one glen and be entirely absent in the
next, under apparently exactly identical con-
ditions.

4 We have had a lot of Bewick's Swans
haunting the valley of the Nene for some time
past, and I heard yesterday that two Whoopers

1 From a forest in Inverness-shire.

WILD SWANS— LEMUR— LAMMERGEYER 177

and a Mute Swan had been shot out of a lot of
eight near Water Newton, down river. . . .'

To the same.

' Lilford : July 24, 1893.

' . . . I can report well of myself, thank
God ; I spend the mornings in my barge, but
the fishes of Nene are very obdurate this year.
You will be interested to hear that I have a
third young Lammergeyer, and a mate for the
Madagascar Lemur. . . .'

To the same.

' Lilford : December 8, 1893.

' We have thousands of wood-pigeons in our
big woods. I grieve to say that the Lammer-
geyer is creating a certain amount of strained
feeling. He inspires terror among the cage
birds. . . .'

To Canon Tristram.

' Lilford : January 3, 1894.

' Thank you very much for all your good
wishes just received. I need not, I hope, assure

N

178 LORD LILFORD

you that they are most cordially returned by all
here who know you, for yourself and all who are
dear to you. ... I hope to have a pecuniary
share in organising an expedition to Kolguev
this next summer.'

To Archibald Thorburn.

' Lilford : January 17, 1894.

' The black feathers inside wing of Pratincole
are not in my opinion too dark for a fully adult
bird. In the plate of the Cream-coloured
Courser the shadows hardly can be too black
for the desert sun and sky.'

To F. D. Drewitt.

' Lilford : February 16, 1894.

' . . . You will perhaps be interested to hear
that my Highland keeper, Donald McKay, came
down this morning with news that he had
tracked a badger into a short stone drain in one
of our woods last night, and found the blocking
intact this morning. I sent Cosgrave up with
him and they brought down a big badger
weighing 24 lbs., alive and uninjured. I could

BADGERS— OTTERS— SWISS BIRDS 179

not very well get a look at it, but know that he
is now, according to my order, taking his pleasure
at liberty in the Lynch. Add to this the
discovery that we have a brood of young otters
in the long drain that runs from the small aviary
pond to the river, and you will readily under-
stand that my mammalogical satisfaction is
great ! '

To the same.

'Lilford: March 22 1894.

' . . . The Swiss hills were good in my time
there (1850) for certain species of birds, and
ought to be better now, as I understand that
there is a rigid bird-protection law. I used
often to see Ospreys about Ouchy in the Springy
but never heard of their nesting thereabouts,
though there are many likely localities on both
sides of the Lake. It would be early for an
Osprey, but if your bird was not of that species
it was very probably the Serpent Eagle, " Jean le
Blanc " (Circaetus gallicus). Both this bird and
Osprey would look nearly pure white from
below, at a height in the air. But the Osprey 's
wings are long and comparatively narrow, with

N 2

180 LORD LILFORD

a peculiar bend when extended, while those of
Circaetus are broad and rounded thus :

' You ought to have seen Crested Tit and
Crossbill. The Waxwings were, of course,
" casuals." The Honey Buzzard and Goshawk
both breed in the Canton de Vaud ; Little
Bittern is not uncommon on passage, and may
breed, for all that I know to the contrary, in the
reeds at the head of the Lake. . . . You will be
interested to hear that last night Cosgrave
brought in alive the first Northamptonshire
specimen of Barbastelle Bat that I have yet
seen. It has, however, been recorded by
Jenyns as having occurred in this country.'

To the same.

■ Lilford : April 12, 1894.

' Summer birds are arriving fast. The
following have now put in an appearance here :
Chiffchaff, Wheatear, Cuckoo, Wryneck, Swallow,
Kedstart, Willow Wren, Tree Pipit, Blackcaps,

SOCIETY FOR THE PROTECTION OF BIRDS 181

Nightingale, and Sedge Warbler; all well up
to time, and some exceptionally early. The
Australian Peewits have brought off three
lovely little birds from their four eggs. The
Raven sits hard, and I am happy ! '

The following letter makes mention of the
Society for the Protection of Birds, in which my
brother was interested from its foundation. I
remember receiving a brief letter from him, con-
taining this exhortation : ' I beg you to become
a member of the Society for the Protection of
Birds, of which I enclose you a circular from its
excellent founder, Mrs. Phillips ; send half-a-
crown, and keep the rules.' The prominent rule
of this valuable Society as regards womankind, is
that they should refrain from wearing the feathers
of any bird not killed for food. My brother's eye
would travel upwards to the hat or bonnet of his
visitor of the generally humane sex, and might
there descry an ' osprey ' or a bird of paradise
plume, a hat composed of the wings of gulls,
or, even worse, a feathered decoration from the
owl, a bird held by him in the highest esteem.
And if such were the case, he would put in

1M} LORD LILFORD

a plea for mercy to the birds from ' the fairest
of creation,' with a graceful hint that where
Nature had already given so much, little extra
decoration was needed. The personal influence
of the pleader, combined possibly with the
implied compliment, certainly gained him some
converts, whose headgear, in consequence,
underwent a considerable change for the
better.

To Miss Annie Schletter.

' Lilford : April 24, 1894.

' Estimadisima Dona y Senorita de toda mi
consideracion, — There is no harm whatever in
wearing ostrich feathers, as these birds are
farmed for feminine adornment, and suffer only
temporary inconvenience from being plucked at
the proper season. What ive, and I hope now
you, will do your best to discountenance, is the
destruction of thousands of lovely and harmless
creatures at home and abroad for the sole pur-
pose of putting money into the pockets of
feather-dealers, and feathers on to the heads and
other parts of sometimes innocent, but always
ignorant, women. I say ignorant because I do

WR1> PROTECTION— THE M.'AMA 18S

not think so ill of your sex as to believe that
they would knowingly promote the present
barbarities of this sort. Join, " an you love
me" (I have no right to presume this) the
Bird-protection Society.

' I must confess to such delight in the drama
that I never care to read newspaper accounts
or criticisms of plays, though I am always
delighted to hear what anyone of intelligence
thinks of anything new. I suppose that your
view of art . . . is the true highest, but I con-
fess that I think that the feeling that one has
done one's best in art or anything else is very
considerable reward, and failure only shows, in
such cases, that one's best is not good enough,
and certainly is a great help in making one
select the line for which nature has adapted one.
' I am going to ask an impertinent question
that you need not answer unless disposed to do
so. Have you ever failed to please an audience
in any part into the study of which you had
thrown your whole mind ? I do not for a
moment doubt that you may have often failed
to satisfy yourself, because with your love for

184 LORD L1LFORD

acting you probably set a very high standard of
art in view ; but, without wishing to flatter you
in any way, I cannot understand your failing to
satisfy an audience in any character into which
you thought it worth while to throw your
soul. . . .

1 As an old broken-down player myself, I dare
say to you, be content with your best, but always
strive to satisfy yourself as far as possible without
overtaxing your physical powers ; it is of no use
asking you to spare your mental powers whilst
they are in their fullest development, but as an
honest friend I will say, Treasure them whilst
you may.

To Canon Tristram.

' Lilford : April 27. 1894.

1 You are, as ever, most welcome to my rooms
at any time, when vacant. ... I should imagine
that your woodcock's nest only wants looking for.
There should be young by this time, and the old
birds should be seen every evening, passing to and
fro and croaking, perchance carrying their young.
My ravens have a family of three about ten

BLACK-HEADED PARTRIDGES— RE1! EM ICE 185

days old. 1 hear that Cullingford showed you my
White Kedwing.

' . . . I have a lot of Pratincoles for the first
time.' .

To the same.

' Lilford : August 26, 1894.

' My most interesting live-stock acquisitions
of late have been a batch of Caccabis melano-
cephala 1 from Aden, and a splendid Wattled
Crane, the one species that was lacking in my
collection of Cranes, now complete.

To F. D. Drewitt.

' Lilford : October 13, 1894.

1 Thank you very much for your letter and the
basket of Tringse from Portland and the Chesil
beach. There can be no harm in taking tribute
of these migratory hordes of waders on our
coasts in autumn.

' " Here-mice " 2 for bats is almost pure Anglo-
Saxon, quite new to me, though " Kere-mice " I

1 Black-headed Partridge.

2 Used by quarryrnen in Portland.

18<i LORD LILFORD

have often heard ; the derivation fide Skeat, is
the Anglo-Saxon hrSremus, from A. S. hreran, to
agitate = flutter, and mi'ts.

1 When I was at Weymouth, or rather at
Portland, in the old "Zara," in April 1876, the
bay was full of Great Northern Divers, and so
was the harbour of Santander in November 1878.
The Grey Phalarope will ride out any amount
of sea. Eheu ! I received on Wednesday the
corpse of a splendid adult female peregrine from
a fruiterer at Peterborough, who told me that
he was informed that it was a " Humming
Buzzard " (sic) ! ! '

To Lieut. -Colonel Hoivard Irbij.

' Lilford : October 19, 1894.

1 Donald McKay assures me that a very large
eagle flew within a hundred yards of him, hotly
pursued by Gorvi on Monday last, just outside
Souther Wood. A Little Auk was brought to
me alive, but dying, yesterday morning, picked
up at Luddington, about six miles from this, on
Hunt's frontier. I am glad to hear that Meade-
Waldo promises some notes. Drewitt's Sand-

AUTUMN MIGRANTS— BIRDS OF CANARY ISLANDS 187

piper, that rather puzzled me, turns out to be
Curlew Sandpiper, but in (to me) rather unusual
phase of plumage. Snipes are becoming so
scarce in these parts that it is worth recording
the fact of two " full " and a Jack having been
shot the day before yesterday. Many Golden
Plovers, myriads of Peewits and Starlings, are
passing southwards daily.'

To F. D. Dreivitt.

' Lilford : January 24, 1895.

' I am very glad to hear that you are to have
a holiday and to spend it in such an interesting
trip. The Duke of Hamilton will remember our
Bustard-shooting expedition in the marisma of
the Guadalquivir in 1872, and I beg to be very
kindly remembered to him.

' The special thing that I want from Tenerife
is the Tey dean Chaffinch (alive), Fringilla Teydea ;
it is found upon the Peak of Tenerife only, and

there only in one zone. Ask for one G , at

Orotava, who knows all about the birds of the
Islands, and has committed ghastly atrocities
in plundering nests of Cream-coloured Courser,

188 LORD LILFORD

Houbara Bustard, &c, in Fuerteventura. The two
Canarian Pigeons are worth looking after, and if
any of the Duke's crew can effect a landing on
that rock off the Island of Hierro, and capture
some of the big lizards (Lacerta simonzi), they
will earn the gratitude of all naturalists. . . .
Hundreds of Little Auks on the Yorkshire coasts ;
two picked up here, and brought to me. . . .'

To Canon Tristram.

' Lilford : February 1, 189o.

' I am altogether opposed to the Egg Protec-
tion Bill ; the attempt to protect eggs by name
seems to me to be utterly futile, and, possibly,
very mischievous. The only possible use of the
Bill practically would be to protect certain places
to which the public have free access, such as
certain breeding-places of Terns and other shore
birds. You and other distinguished ornitholo-
gists may have no moral doubt about the species
of any given egg, but would you swrear to the
specific identity of any egg of British bird off
which you had not seen the parent bird fly '? I
certainly would not, and it is just this conscien-

PEEWITS— THE SEVERE WINTER OF 1894-0.", 189

tious doubt that will lead to no end of vexatious
prosecutions. ... I consider the Egg Bill as
applied to private property a possibly very un-
fair interference with private rights, and in any
case a very difficult measure to administer with
justice. With regard to Peewits, their eggs have
a distinct commercial value, and if landowners
do not care to protect the eggs, they must
take the consequences. Peewits have increased
enormously with us since they were protected
by law in the breeding season, and nowadays
I get double the number of eggs that I used to
do in former years, both in this county and in
Lancashire. If the eggs are carefully taken
with a view to the increase of the birds, there is
no fear of serious diminution of the breed. Any
healthy female Peewit will lay twelve eggs, of
which eight or nine may be taken, leaving her
three or four to hatch out. . . .'

To F. D. Dreivitt.

1 Lilford : February 18, 1895.

1 Thank you very much for yours of the 7th,
begun at La Coruiia and finished in Vigo Bay,

190 LORD L1LFORD

received this morning. . . . We have had the
most severe spell of weather that I ever recollect
for a continuance in this country. The glass
has been down to below zero on several occa-
sions, and since January 23 we have never had
less than six degrees of frost. Our river and
flooded meadows are hard frozen, and swarming
with skaters. There has been a regular storm of
Little Auks on the coasts of Yorkshire, Lincoln,
and Norfolk ; some thousands have come ashore
about Scarborough, and the mouth of the Humber.
Two hundred and ninety have been recorded as
picked up in Norfolk alone; seven have been
sent or brought to me, all picked up in this neigh-
bourhood, and I hear of others. A good many
Waxwings have been killed ; two have been sent
to me. I know Santander well, every inch of
the harbour and creeks and the surrounding
country, and I may almost say the same of Vigo.
Poor old Sankey1 came from a nest in a low cliff
in a creek of the harbour of Santander, just over
a small cave full of maidenhair fern. I re-
member well both the plants of which you send
a sketch. . . .'

1 The old raven at Lilford.

BIRD PROTECTION BILL ]«>1

To Lie at. -Colonel Howard Irhij.

4 Lilford : February 21, 1895.

' It is absurd to protect game eggs all over
the country, and in my opinion still more
ridiculous to attempt to protect them by name.
The only possible good of this Act is to protect
eggs of birds that breed in commons or public
grounds, shores, coasts, &c. To pass an order
to protect birds on private property is an un-
warrantable interference. I am very clear about
what ought to be done in such counties as ours
for instance, i.e. to leave the Bill entirely alone.
The utter futility of protecting eggs by name is
obvious, as I do not believe one County Coun-
cillor or beak in five hundred would know the
egg of a house-sparrow from that of any other
small bird, and I am quite certain that no honest
" birdy man " would swear to any egg without
seeing the parent bird leave it ; moral convic-
tion is one thing, but an oath to any statement
is another.

I have two supposed Brunnich's Guillemot
here, one of them the Scarborough bird ex-
hibited by Harting to Linnasan Society, and
the other the Cambridge specimen belonging

192 LORD LILFORD

to Rev. Julian Tuck. I confess myself puzzled,
but I can only say that I see precious little
difference between the birds.'

To F. D. Drewitt.

' Lilford : March 8, 1895.

1 . . . The weather was very bad when we
were at Lisbon, but the river above the town
was swarming with geese, ducks of many sorts,
and some snipes. I fancy that the Lesser
Black-backed Gull breeds upon the Berlengas.
I agree about the Portuguese, but the king is a
good fellow and a keen birdy man. I hear of
disastrous floods in Andalusia. Here we have
had a tremendously long and severe frost, only
now slowly going. Comparatively few losses in
the aviaries.'

To the same.

' Lilford : April 2, 1895.

' I am very glad to hear of your return. I
hope that you were not seriously damaged in
the Bay. The hurricane of the 24th played
havoc with our best-beloved trees, but this is
too heartrending a subject for me to dwell
upon, and it seems that many of our friends and

GALE OF MARCH 24, 1895— GREY HEN 193

neighbours are much more seriously damaged
than we are. The birds that you mention
were Crag Martins that frequent the Kock at
Gibraltar, and only migrate from inland preci-
pices to those of the coast of the Mediterranean
in winter. I am glad to hear of a good stock of
Apes. The principal zoological events of late
here have been a flight of eight Whoopers about
March 16 and 17, the shooting of an adult
Grey Hen on the 18th at Wigsthorpe Wold, and
the birth of a lovely little Afghan calf. . . .'

To Lieut. -Colonel Hoivard Irby.

' Lilford : April 29, 1895.

* . . . I have no doubt that D. Ratcliffe is
right about Nutcrackers in the Coto ; the
bird must breed somewhere in Spain, and, as
we know, is subject to occasional erratic fits
after the manner of the Jay and, I believe, the
Magpie. . . .'

To the same.

1 Lilford : May 2, 1895.

1 1 have next to nothing to say that is worth
putting upon paper, but I never like to let an
old-established correspondence drop for want of

o

194 LORD LILFORD

fuel on my side, so thank you much for yours of
April 30.

' I am glad to hear that Griffons are still in
force in Andalusia ; I am told that they and all
other Buitres have been poisoned by wholesale
in many parts of Spain. Our weather has
turned cold and gloomy, and I have not been
out of the house lately. There are four healthy
young ravens in the nest, about the size of rooks
when they first show outside their nests. Do
you know of any good man or women who would
care for one of these Angelitos ? My Moritos '
will not nest or lay ; an old Night Heron sits
upon two eggs, and the first egg of Mohino 2
was laid in one of three nests of that species.
I am glad that you took Arvicola amphibius'6
to the dear Herr Doctor' [Giinther]. ... 'I
had a letter yesterda}'' from sailor Kennedy at
Karachi ; he tells me of an expedition up the
Euphrates to Baghdad, and first-rate sniping
and francolin shooting in the Garden of Eden
where Tigris falls into Euphrates. He encloses
a twig of the Tree of Knowledge, but not enough

1 Glossy Ibis. 2 Blue Magpie.

1 A water rat found by Colonel Irby in an Eagle Owl's nest in
Spain.

LETTER TO THE DUCHESS OF BEDFORD— MOOSE 195

to strike ; a few cuttings would be priceless in
this country ! . . . Kennedy is sending me two
of the vast Galapagos 1 from Aldabra. . . .'

To the Duchess of Bedford.

' Lilford : May 6, 1895.

' I congratulate you sincerely on the
addition to your herd of reindeer, and trust
that the new arrival will thrive. I envy you
the Moose, but I have no proper range for
them. I do not know if you have had any
experience with these beasts, but I believe that
they cannot get on well without water deep
enough to cover their bodies in the summer
time. I know that they specially love water lilies
as food, and are very fond of browsing upon
young birch, alders, and other swamp-growing
trees and bushes. I shall be intensely interested
in hearing how yours of this species get on. If
you can establish a herd, you will deserve the
gold medal of the Zoological Society. I have
long tried in vain to get some of the European
Elks, but had I been successful I intended to
have given them to a friend who had a wide
range of moss and swampy woods in Ireland.'

1 Spanish for Tortoise.

o 2

196 LORD LILFORD

To F. D. Drewitt.

1 Lilford : September 24, 1895.

' I was only once at Lowestoft for a day,
from Yarmouth, where I spent a very pleasant
three weeks in 1862 ; but I have seen Fritton
decoy, and well remember the abundance of
adders on its banks, and the many " Loons " —
Great Crested Grebes — on its waters. I heard
of the murder of the Spoonbill at Breydon, but
was glad to hear that six others escaped. I
have figured the Yarmouth Caspian Plover in
my book. . . .

' I subscribe to the Breydon Protection
Society, but they do little good. So long as the
British Bird collectors go on, so long will every
scarce bird find its way into the hands of local
dealers, spite of law and decency. I went out
on the river yesterday, but the water is so low
and weedy that I could do nothing. To-day
is one of the hottest days of this marvellous
September. ... A seal was killed off Yarmouth
not long ago.

' Do not forget to run down for a night
or two whenever it will suit you ; I have two

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TO THE DUCHESS OF BEDFORD— GREY CROWS 197

Tenrecs from Madagascar that alone are worth
coming to see. . . .'

To the Duchess of Bedford.

' Lilford: December 31, 1896.

' No bird of the genus Corvus with which
I was ever acquainted could justly be called
"well behaved" from the standpoint of equity
or morality, but most of them are amusing
villains, and there is considerable variety in
the style of their delinquency. I have suffered
many things at the beak and claws of a
tame Rook, but for deep depravity without a
redeeming point give me the Grey or Hooded
Crow. But I have trespassed too long upon
your grace, in every sense of the word.'

To the same.

' Lilford : January 6, 1896.

' How will it be if you carry out your
gracious intention of sending me two photo-
graphs of yourself, and I find them both really
like you and keep the two ? Possession is nine
points of the law, so- you see what you may

198 LORD LILFORD

have to expect from the crippled old freebooter
(not corvine) upon whom you are good enough to
smile indulgently. I once had eight Red- billed
Choughs flying about here, at perfect liberty,
and perfectly tame. A friend — one of the men
(of whom you have, no doubt, met several) who
always have the best horse, the best dog,
the best boots, &c, &c. — was staying with
us on one occasion, and told me that he
had brought with him two boxes of perfectly
unique cigars, " the best known," of course, but
not quite dry enough for smoking, and where
could he most conveniently expose them to dry
in the sun ? It was the height of summer, and
I could not think of a better place than the
dressing-table in his bedroom — on the second
floor, with a S.E. exposure ; he spread the
cigars accordingly, and went out for the whole
day. You may imagine his feelings on going
up to dress for dinner, and finding that the
Choughs had paid a domiciliary visit to his
room and not left one cigar, the whole room
being virtually smothered with snuff, bealiii&c-
tured by these lovely birds, and dispersed by
a gentle breeze from the window !

GIANT TORTOISES— HAMMER KOPF 199

The smaller of my Giant Tortoises died, I
grieve to say, this morning. My latest acquisition
of much importance consists of two " Tufted
Ombres" (Scopus umbretta), very curious birds,
related to the Storks but, roughly speaking, about
the size and something of the same colour as the
Glossy Ibis ; they came to me from Bechuana-
land, where they are known as Hammer Kopf,
from the shape of beak and crest. I believe that
only one of this species has ever been seen alive
in England, before my two arrivals."

To F. D. Drewitt.

' Lilford : February 10, 1896.

' Thank you very much for the excellent
photographs of Arab falconers, safely received
yesterday. [From South Algeria]. . . .

' If the Kaid has any true Sakers it would be
very interesting to know whence he procures
them, as we at present do not know of their
breeding in North Africa, or, indeed, anywhere
to the westward of the Lower Danube. I am
convinced that there are two distinct races of
Lanner in North Africa. Any information upon
Algerian falconry would be most interesting.

L>00 LORD LILFORD

1 How many species of Falcon are used ?
Are the young Falcons taken from the nest, or
caught on passage ? I imagine that the French
have about exterminated the Barbary Deer :
the only true Cervus in Africa which formerly
existed in forest country on the Algerian-
Tunisian frontier. This would be a treasure at
South Kensington. You will be sorry to hear of
the death of my female Testudo elepliantina
(Giant Tortoise) a few days ago. I presented
her to the Cambridge Museum.'

To F. D. Drewitt.

' Lilford : February 25, 1896.

'Yours of 13th reached me on the 18th.
I heard nothing of the lizards l till the 23rd,
when I received a notification from the General
Post Office in London that they were de-
tained there, as it was against the rules to
forward living animals by post. Upon this I
wrote to Sclater and have heard from him that
the three animals are all alive, and proved to
be a strictly Algerian form. I am much obliged
to you. I have presented two of them to the

1 Thorny-tailed Lizards sent from South Algeria by parcels
post.

LETTER TO THE LATE DUKE OF ARGYLL 201

Zoological Society. The little Brown Martin that
you tell of is no doubt Cot/tie Bupestris. The Rock
Dove is no doubt Golumba Livia.1 Tunis must
be a very altered place from what it was in 1856,
when I was there. The great Baheira lagoon
was then a constant source of delight, swarming
with Flamingoes and wildfowl innumerable.
The few birds that I got there were a Tawny
Eagle, and the curious Spiny-tailed Duck
(Erismatura Leuco-cephala). After a spell of
extraordinarily mild weather we are now having
a bitterly cold snap. Forty-five wild swans were
seen about ten miles from this on Friday last, and
two considerable flocks of geese on the same day
close to Oundle. ... A pair of Storm Thrushes
are busily building in the Pinsapo immediately
in front of our bedroom windows.'

To the Duke of Argyll.

' Lilford Hall : March 3, 1896.

' Dear Duke of Argyll, — I am greatly obliged
to you for your very interesting letter, and can
most sincerely sympathise in your attack of our

1 The Rock Dove was obtained in the Aures mountains. Its
crop was found to be full of the seeds of bitter apple (Cucumis
colocynthis).

UOL> LORD LILFORD

mutual enemy, which has entirely crippled me
for the last eleven years. I am greatly delighted
to find that you are pleased with my " Birds of
Northamptonshire. ' '

' Your failure with the Nut-hatches was very
remarkable. I was once at Inverary with my
father for some days, as a tourist, and should
have thought that it was made for Nut-hatches ;
but they are curiously local in their habitat, e.g.
they swarm hereabouts, but at a place in the
south of this county that I hear of, are almost
unknown.

' Your account of the Dipper with the
Flounder is delightful. I wish that our Nene
was suited to these charming little birds.

lA apropos of the Dippers fishing, are you
aware that the Grey Wagtail wades into gravelly
shallows and captures small fry ?

' I sincerely hope that your present attack
will soon pass off, and that I shall have the
pleasure of reading you, as I cannot hear you,
on the Eastern question.

' Yours very faithfully,

1 LlLFORD.'

LETTERS TO DR. GUNTIIER i'03

The following extracts from Lord Lilford's
correspondence with Dr. Giinther are given in
connected order, and independently of the
chronological sequence of their predecessors, as
their interest seems best preserved in this way.

« Hawthorn Hill, Bracknell : July 3, 1885.

1 Dear Giinther, — This is a decidedly " birdy "
spot. I have seen and heard fifty-one species
from my window and my chair, in the garden of
half an acre. . . .

' I trust that your visit to Wadenhoe will
be without prejudice to a visit to Lilford in
September or October. You will always be, as
you always have been, most welcome.

'Yours most truly,

' Lilford.'
To the same.

1 Bath : November 8, 1885.

' . . . I used to correspond with the British
Diplomatic Agent at Muscat. He sent me two
Beatrix Antelopes and two Muscat Gazelles,
which I presented to the Zoological Society.
Any Eaptorial birds from that part of the world
would be of special interest to me. . . .'

204 LOUD LILFORD

To the same (from Lad'/ Lilford).

' Bath : December 1, 1885.

' I am sorry to say Lilford has some pain in
his right wrist ; he therefore asks me to write
and thank you for your last letter. . . . The Nut-
crackers are altogether delightful, very quaint in
their ways, perfectly tame, and intelligent. . . .
Lilford thinks that you will be glad to hear that
twenty ducks have been caught in the newly-
made decoy at Lilford. . . .'

To the same.

4 Lilford : October 6, 188C.

1 We came from London hither on July 1,
and have certainly had most wonderful weather.

' My general health has greatly improved, but
I cannot walk or even stand. I have received
some interesting things alive, among them a
Picus Tridactylus,1 a bird that I never saw alive
before, and a very lively, tame, and sensible fowl
it is. . . . We have had no one except members
of the family staying with us on account of my

1 Three-toed Woodpecker.

LETTERS TO DR. GUNTHER 205

infirmity and my Lady's constant and untiring
devotion to my comfort and requirements, which
prevents our entertaining guests as we could wish
to do. Fazakerley was here for a long time, and
fished constantly with patience, and much long-
suffering from flies, gnats, and bad tackle. His
principal exploit in the fishing way was the
capture of four chub weighing twelve pounds.'

To the same.

' Bournemouth : October 31, 1886.

' I find a bird-stuffer here with two healthy
specimens of Coronella kevis.1 He tells me that
they took small lizards freely throughout the
summer, but they have now given up feeding.
He talks as though there were no difficulty in
keeping them alive, in a state of torpor, through
the winter. Possibly you might like to have
them, and, if so, I should be most happy to send
them to you. I believe that there are some
Firecrests in our garden here ; I have not actually
seen any, but have heard a note that I cannot
attribute to any other species.'

1 European Smooth Snake.

L>06 LORD LILFORD

To the same.

' Bournemouth : November 13, 1886.

' I saw two swallows flying to windward
along the edge of the cliff to-day. Have you
received any mammalia from Cyprus ? I can-
not remember if I presented a Cyprian Hare ;
my impression is that I did not, but I remember
a hare from Crete which I think I gave to the
Museum. If you have any of the family of
Lepus from Cyprus, I should be glad to know
to what species they belong. We killed a good
many, and found them by far the best hare
for the table of any we had ever tasted, while
the Lepus Mediterraneus of South Spain and
Sardinia is uneatable. The hares of Cyprus
differ much in general appearance from this
species, and from L. timidus.'

[The skin of a Spanish hare sent by my
brother to the South Kensington Natural History
Museum, was found by Mr. de Winton to be a new
species. It has been named Lepus Lilfordi.1]

1 Seep. 280.

DR. GUILLEMARD— CYPRUS— BANK VOLES 207

To the same.

' Lilford : August 21, 1887.

' Dr. Guillemard is here, and although he
is much disappointed with the ornithological
results of his visit to Cyprus, he has brought
back some beautifully preserved skins and very
much helped our very scanty acquaintance with
the avifauna of the island. I did not expect
anything new, but only wanted to find out what
is to be met with ; but I think that we have, if
not a new species, a very remarkable sub-species
or race of Par us, allied to the Coal Tit.'

To the same.

' Bournemouth : November 12, 1887.

' . . . I have known a Sprat Loon (Colymbus
septentrionalis) with a red throat-patch, killed
in our Wash, the estuary of Nene, Welland, and
Ouse, and once shot one of the species in Ply-
mouth Sound in April, with a full red patch
which had evidently been borne throughout the
previous winter. I am glad that the voles are
of the supposed rarer British species A. glareolus.1

1 Bank vole.

ilO LORD LILFORD

From what I can make out this species is quite
as common about Lilford as A. agrestis. . . .
There were no less than three bears at Lilford
last night, owing to a mistake of Cross of Liver-
pool, hinc illce lachri/mce — rapidly drying.'

To the same.

' Bournemouth : April 7, 1888. -

' . . . One of my Golden Eagles is sitting on
one egg at Lilford ; she laid another, but broke
it. She is nearly eleven years old and laid for
the first time last year, but broke the egg as
she had no nesting materials. This year there
is a good nest, made by the birds themselves. . . .
About Pterocles arenarms ' I have found them
hardy enough as far as cold is concerned, but
they will not stand damp footing. In the
winter months I should shut them up at night
with a couple of inches of dry sand on the floor
of their place. I have just invested in three
pairs of them. Pt. arena ri its is a much hardier
bird than Pterocles alchata2 and I kept several
of both species for more than one winter. One
would naturally suppose that birds that can

1 Black-bellied Sand-grouse. - Pintailed Sand-grouse.

' COLUMBA BOLLII —CROSSBILL 209

abide the winters of La Mancha and New
Castile could stand anything.'

To the same.

« Lilford : July 5, 1888.

1 Meade- Waldo has presented me with a pair
of Columba bollii alive, from the Canary Islands,
and a nest with three eggs of TSryfhrospiza
githaginea1 from Fuerteventura. He had won-
derful success altogether. ... I have had all
my Cyprus birds sent down to me here, and
am making a selection for S. K. Museum, as I
understand that you want Mediterranean birds,
and I know that Cyprus is badly represented
in all collections.'

To the same.

' Lilford : August 16, 1888.

1 A beautiful old male Crossbill was sent to
me yesterday, shot in the Rectory garden at
Tichmarsh. This is a very rare bird in this
county, and the first ever obtained here to my
knowledge. One of my latest acquisitions is a
young Spotted Crake, snared without injury by

1 Desert Bullfinch.

P

210 LORD LILFORD

the decoy man, and already quite tame and
impudent. . . .

' The wild, or rather tame, fowl on the water
in St. James's Park, years ago were maintained
or supposed to be maintained by a Society
which bore the name of ' ornithological,' with the
prefix of the definite article. I paid a sovereign
in the year 1853 to a gentleman who called
himself secretary of the said Society, but the
only member that I could ever hear of besides
myself was dear old William Yarrell. I kept a
Serpent Eagle, several Marsh Harriers, two
Stone Curlews, and other birds on the island at
the Westminster end of the water, under the
charge of one Allen who lived thereon for many
years with his wife, in extreme comfort and
enjoyment, and I have reason to believe that I
now, in my own person, represent the Ornitho-
logical Society, and am duly proud of my solitary
grandeur, and all for one sovereign ! '

To the same.

' Bournemouth : November 6, 1H88.

' Shortly before leaving Lilford I received
two young Pelicanus crispws l from my friend

1 Crested Telican.

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KEW PELICAN -GOLDEN EAGLES NESTING 211

Sanderson, H.B.M. Consul at Galatz. He
sent a third also, which I deposited in the Z.
Gardens ; would they like him at Kew ? 1 . . .
I do not think freshwater fish by any means
a necessity for our European pelicans; those
that I have at Lilford are fed almost entirely on
cheap sea fish.'

To the same.

' Bournemouth : April 2, 1889.

' We have a blackbird's nest in our compound
here, on a very slender fir-tree, too high up for
human examination ; but no bird has a chance
of rearing its young to maturity here on account
of the numberless cats, many of which live in

what would call a " feral ' state. I can

hardly express my horror of that word, though
it has the support of Alfred Newton, Sclater,
and other great men.

' My Golden Eagles at Lilford are sitting
upon two eggs, and the Black Vulture upon one.
A pair of King-ouzels have just finished building
in the aviary, nearly two months earlier than
last year. The Coal Tit is the only common

1 This pelican became a well-known and respected inhabitant
of Kew Gardens.

p 2

212 LORD LILFORD

Parus here ; the Great Tit is not rare, but I have
never observed or heard a Blue Tit about these
gardens and shrubberies.'

To the same.

' Lilford : June 23, 1889.

1 1 heard of the nest of Montagu's Harrier
before it was taken . . . and I am very glad to
hear from you that there are other pairs in that
district. This year I have had the ponds at the
back of the house enclosed and rendered fox-
proof, and have now a fair collection of " fowl "
thereon, augmented on Saturday last by four
beautiful adult male Shovellers, who were good
enough to drop on to our decoy and listen to
the charmer at once. . . .

' We fed some sixty of our Natural History
Society in a tent yesterday, but the only re-
markable zoological statement was from one
who had been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in
Paris last week, and said that he found a pair
of swallows nesting there. . . .

'Eustace Radcliffe, personally unknown to
me, was prompted by a generous spirit to make
me a present of a fine Falco sacer.'

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AERIVAL OF FLAMINGOES 218

To the same.

'Lilford: June 26, 1889.

' I have this morning received ten Flamin-
goes from Port Said, all but one in very good
condition. If this lot thrives for a month I
shall have some to spare. They are very easy
to keep, only requiring shelter from cold winds
and snow in the winter; they do not require
more water than enough to give them a good
daily bath in summer. I will very gladly
present you with a pair, or give them to Kew
Gardens if they care to have them.'

To the same.

' Bournemouth : December 17, 1889.

' I am reading poor Prince Rudolf's book.
He is full of mistakes about Spain, as might
be expected from his five or six weeks' rush
through the country. He credits me with a
statement which I certainly never made, and
contradicts Saunders on a point on which the
latter is perfectly correct. The whole book, as
far as I have read it, is the hasty production
of a very keen and intelligent, but hasty and

214 LORD LILFORD

impetuous boy. I hope that the reviewers will
be charitable. Of course I am no judge, but I
should guess that for a translation the work is
as good as it can be. Is it not so ? '

To the same.

' Bournemouth : January 27, 1890.

' To a scientific man as you are, the utter
confusion in ornithological order must be most
perplexing and irritating. It is sufficiently so
to me who have no pretensions to science, and
the bitter animosities amongst the classifiers
are most distressing, but, as Tennyson says,
"I know my words are wild.". . . Seebohm has
always been more than civil and obliging to me
personally. I have a high opinion of him as a
bird man, and when he chooses he is a very
pleasant writer.'

To the same.

' Bournemouth : March 21, 1890.

' There can be no doubt that Booth's Collec-
tion is very much better where it now is than
elsewhere. I do not know what the testamen-
tary alternative is in the case of the Brit. Museum

BOOTH'S COLLECTION— BIRDS IN ST. JAMES'S PARK 215

authorities declining it, but if I were a trustee
I should most unhesitatingly decline it under
the condition of building a new gallery, and
yet it ought to belong to the nation. I have no
belief in any municipal body, except for blunder
making. The main interest in the collection is
that it shows what can be done by one man in
the way of bird-slaughter, and by another or
two in the way of taxidermy ; and if the trustees
could shirk the conditions of removing it and
building a new gallery, I should say accept it
and appoint a curator.'

To the same.

' Bournemouth : April 9, 1890.

' I hear that the lizards arrived safely at the
Zool. Gardens ; Meade-Waldo told me that they
are found only upon a high isolated rock in the
Canaries, upon which it is always dangerous
and often impossible to land. ... I should very
much like to see Pelicans on wing about the
London parks; there is no reason whatever
that this should not be. The Crested Pelican is
very hardy and may be made perfectly tame,
but he must, of course, have his regular supply

216 LORD LILFORD

of fishes. I hear that Storks and Cormorants
have been introduced into St. James's Park, so
good-bye to Goslings, Ducklings, and, I should
rather fear, to Dabchicks, also. On the other
hand Pelicanus is perfectly harmless as regards
other fowl, and his ways and manners are a
joy for ever.'

To the same.

1 Bournemouth : April 15, 1890.

' Meade- Waldo sent me some time ago a
beautiful Tit from Hiero, much larger than the
other so-called species from the Canarian group,
in appearance a sort of cross between P. major
and P. ultramarinus. As far as M.-W. knew at
the time, this race is confined to the island, on
which he found it in abundance. ... I am in
correspondence with the Deputy-Eanger of Hyde
Park about the introduction of Pelicans upon
the Serpentine, but it seems that the difficulty
is the expense (! !) of maintenance.'

To the same.

' Bournemouth : May 1, 1890.

' On the whole the wildfowl in St. James's
Park have done well, and would do much better

SP.1RPENTINE AS VIVARIUM— RUFFS— SNOWY OWL 217

without Storks, which I am told have been
introduced there ; but the Serpentine is really a
fine sheet of water, and under judicious manage-
ment, without going so far as my salt-water
scheme, might be made into a very valuable and
interesting vivarium. ... I think that the
yellowish-brown colour of the legs of Kuffs does
not vary much with age or sex. My theory is
that the young males of the previous year all
carry a white rurf to begin with, and would have
it fully developed now, as far as it goes, but it
is never so full as in older birds. In winter
plumage size is the best distinction, the females
being generally 2J to 3 inches less than the
males.'

To the same.

' Lilford ; July 2, 1890.

' I have a thriving brood of Azure-winged
Magpies, hatched a few days ago. One of my
Teydean Chaffinches is sitting hard upon one
egg, and I have a Snowy Owl sitting upon six.
... I fear that I shall not live to see Gatke's
book on Heligoland.'

218 LORD LILFOED

To the same.

' Lilford : August 31, 1892.

I The disappearance of the Waders in the
S.W. of England is very remarkable ; I had
heard of it before. From Great Yarmouth, on
the other hand, I hear of an unusual abundance
of this family. I can only presume that some
meteorological cause is at work, that has pro-
duced a change in the ordinary migration routes.

' I have twenty Marbled Ducks alive, so far
as I know the only living specimens that have
ever been seen in captivity in this country.'

To the same.

' Lilford : October 30, 1892.

I I am rejoicing in the very recent acquisition
of another Great Black Woodpecker. We have
five young Barbary mice, all doing well, and
now feeding themselves. A pair of Little Owls
brought up and took off a brood of four from a
hollow tree in Wadenhoe. I have no positive
evidence as to more events of this sort, but
have good reason to believe that other broods
were hatched out in the neighbourhood.'

OTTER HUNTING— BIRDS FROM ADEN 219

To the same.

' Lilford : May 16, 1893.

' We had a very fine morning's sport here
yesterday with the Bucks Otter Hounds, killing
a small but very game dog-otter opposite the
big plane-tree, after nearly three hours' work. It
was a lovely day, mihi cretd notanda, for otter
hunting was the sport that I preferred to all
others, and I was able to see the whole of the
hunt yesterday, from find to finish, from my
chair.'

To the same.

'Lilford : September 15, 1893.

' I have received a consignment of seven
Caccabis melanoc&phala,1 eight Francolinus rubi-
collis, and four Singed Sand-grouse. They
were all shipped from Aden. The Partridges
are very rare birds in confinement. I never
saw more than one in that circumstance — in
the Jardin d'Acclimatation at Paris. I have
received seventeen sacks of dried locusts from
Larnaca, not very fresh but much appreciated by
more of my birds than I can well enumerate.'

1 Black-headed, red-legged partridges. They afterwards lived
in a wild state at Lilford.

220 LORD LILFORD

To the same.

' Lilford : January 27, 1894.

1 A point in Spanish ornithology which
ought to be cleared up is the reported exist-
ence of Caccabis saxatilis 1 in Galicia. No
British bird-seeker in Spain has met with this
bird. . . .

' I am quite certain that some birds ac-
quire a great liking for human society, and
for certain individuals of our race, quite apart
from " cupboard love." My Lady, who has
marvellous attractions for horses, dogs, and
other animals, has at this moment a bullfinch
reared from the nest which is never quite happy
when she is not in the room, and greets her
more Pyrrhidarum with his best songs and
bows and waving of tail whenever she speaks to
him. With me and most other people this little
bird is absolutely savage, and hisses, scolds, and
attempts to peck if his cage is approached. I
shall be exceedingly glad to take a ton of locusts
prepared in the same way as the others, and
stowed in sacks as before.'

1 Greek Partridge.

PRAIRIE OWLS— ' AMYDRUS TRISTRAMI ' 221

To the same.

1 Lilford ; April 16, 1895.

' I should say without actual knowledge that
the Burrowing Owl would be a specially good
mouser. My birds only hatched out one of four
eggs, but their breeding operations were much
interfered with by the introduction of " Prairie
Dogs " into their compartment. ... I am in
anxious expectation this afternoon of the arrival
of some Amydrus Tristrami^ straight from the
monastery of Mar-saba, near Bethlehem.'

To the same.

'Lilford: July 2, 1895.

' We had a most exciting otter hunt here
on Saturday last, rinding the animal in the long
drain that runs from the pond and debouches
into the river just above our solitary plane-
tree ; he was quickly bolted by a terrier and for
nearly four hours constantly viewed and steadily
hunted, but I am not sorry (except for the
hounds' sake) to say that the gallant beast
eventually and most mysteriously beat us and
entirely disappeared, to fight another day.'

1 Golden-winged Blackbird.

1'l'l' LORD LILFORD

To the same.

' Lilford : September 28, 1895.

1 1 have two very interesting little Tenrecs
from Madagascar ; they are tail-less and present
a curious combination of Shrew, Hedgehog, and
Swine in manners and appearance.'

To the same.

' Lilford : December 7, 1895.

' Castang sent me yesterday a living Fulmar,
the second only of this species that I have ever
seen alive. It feeds well on small fishes put
into a pan of salt water, with a mixture of cod-
liver oil.'

To the same.

' Lilford : January 2, 1896.

' It is most kind of you to write as you have
done about my "Northamptonshire Notes";
nothing could give me greater pleasure than the
assurance that this opus of mine recalls pleasant
memories in the mind of an old and highly-
valued friend, and a genuine lover of birds into
the bargain. I can honestly accept any amount
of appreciation of the illustrations. The letter-

LETTERS TO DR. GUNTHER 223

press is merely food for babes — not unwholesome,
I trust, but wholly unscientific.'

To the same.

' Lilford : January 18, 1896.

' I have for the last twenty years turned out
many of the "Hungarian" partridges here in
early February, with most satisfactory results. . . .
I find that the great majority of Golden -eyes
imported by Castang are in miserable order, and
if put upon the ponds at once, wash themselves
to death. I have, however, managed to keep
several alive by not allowing them access to
more than a small pan of water for the first ten
days after arrival. . . . My most interesting
acquisition in the bird way lately is a fine male
Regent Bird.'

To the same.

' Lilford : April 8, 1896.

' I heard last from Irby at Granada that the
whole of Andalusia is dried up, and that there
are no insects or flowers. Drewitt has returned
from Tunis with a nice small collection of
birds. The lizards ' are at Zoological Gardens.

1 Uromastix acanthinurus.

224 LORD LILFORD

He has brought a hare ' and skull from Biskra,
which I hope he will send to South Kensington,
also a good specimen of Zorilla Vaillanti (Loche);
this I take to be rare in N. Africa. ... As I
suppose you are aware, Morisco, as applied to
the Great Bustard, has nothing whatever to do
with Moro a Moor, but is a malversation of
Marismeno from mari&ma'

1 This hare, which was presented by Dr. Drewitt to the Cam-
bridge Museum, was described by Mr. G. E. H. Barrett Hamilton
as a new species (Annals of Natural History, vol. ii. No. 11,
p. 422), and named by him Lcpus pallidior.

225

CHAPTER V

Some Extracts from Lord Lilford's later Diaries — Birth of his
Grandson in 1896 — Death in June 1896 — His Services to
Ornithology — His Liberality — Letter from H. E. Dresser —
Recollections by Dr. Drewitt.

' Fair Soul, who in this faltering age did show,

Manhood's true image, constant, courteous, pure,
In silence strong to do, and to endure ;

'Neath self- suppression, veiling inner glow,
Justice at one with gentleness.'

Limitation, in some direction, seems to be the
condition on which most human lives are held.
Chi vo, non jpo ; chi po, non vo, which, in lengthy
paraphrase, may be rendered ' "Who has will, has
not power; who has power, has not will.' The
limitation lies in the circumstances, or in the
want of desire. My brother was one of those
' who willed, but could not,' and the limitation
arose from the hampering effects of ill-health.
To a man with a ruling passion, and a passion
which in his case would have made his life an

Q

226 LORD LILFORD

outdoor and a roving one, this limitation must
have been especially trying. But through
constant wearying attacks of illness, through
years when the discomforts of a helpless con-
dition gradually grew upon him, he possessed
his soul in patience ; his mental strength grew
with the curtailment of physical power, and
his endurance was fortified by the carrying
out of an extremely old-fashioned prescrip-
tion— a simple faith in God. He asked for
patience, and he received it. In the prayer-book
he constantly used, where the fly-leaf contains
the Lord's Prayer in Spanish, the last page but
one has a brief petition in the following words :
1 Merciful Father, teach and strengthen me to
bow without complaint, or inward repining, to
Thy chastening hands, for the sake of Thy
beloved Son.' Many passages in the Psalms
and Collects are underlined, and on his Church-
less Sundays he never omitted to read the
services for the day. There grew upon him, in
the later years of his life, a reverent love for the
Church in which he had been brought up, coupled
with a large-heartedness which that love does
not always adopt as its yokefellow.

EXTRACTS FROM DIARY 227

These are extracts from his diary :
< December SI, 1893.— So ends 1893. One of
the most sad of my life, from the loss of my two
dear brothers in April and July respectively, and
one of the most grievous to the best interests of
England from the depression of Agriculture and
Trade of all sorts, the disastrous and appalling
catastrophe of the "Victoria," the Coal Strike,
and the progress of Socialism and Anarchy.
Personally, in spite of our family griefs, I have
cause for infinite gratitude to Almighty God for
general good health of my C. and self, for the
splendid summer that allowed me to be out so
much, for the miraculous progress and recovery
of our dear sister M., and for the countless
everyday blessings that one thinks of too little
when young and active, but learns to value with
advancing years. I only humbly pray for more
thorough thankfulness and content for the New
Year. Ornithology has been much advanced.
In my own collection of live animals I have had
many deplorable losses, and some few valuable
acquisitions. I have, chiefly through the kind-
ness of Mr. E. A. Burton, of the Lodge, Daventry,
become possessor of some welcome additions to

a 2

•228 LORD LILFORD

my collection of the birds of our county and
neighbourhood. The game season has been fair,
rather above our average, but evidently less
productive than the season of 1892. A very dry
year such as this 1893 is seldom super-excellent
for game, and Snipe and Wildfowl have hitherto
been remarkable from their scarcity.'

1 November 15, 1895. — Cosgrave reports the
death of the Spanish Ichneumon sent to me last
year by the Comte de Paris, and brought in the
corpse of one of the Black-headed Partridges; I
sent the Ichneumon to Walter Kothschild. Far
worse than these losses is the death of poor old
"Sardo," my Blue Eock Thrush, taken by me
from the nest in 1882 on S. Stefano, Straits
of Bonifacio, my constant, quaint, and most
amusing companion ever since, and a charming
singer, beloved of my C. since our marriage ; he
died (as I believe) chiefly of old age, and was
singing vigorously this morning. I shall never
have his like again.'

'December 31, 1895. — So ends the year 1895,
which has been one full of mercies to me, mingled
of course with some great sorrows and the usual
small annoyances ; but the general good health

THE YEAR 1896 229

of my wife, and other untold blessings wholly
undeserved, fill my heart with thankfulness to
the Almighty. The death of my dear old friend
Exeter 1 was an irreparable loss to very many
besides myself. The splendid summer, the
measure of health with which I have been
blessed, the endless proofs of remembrance
received from old friends and new, and the
acquisitions to my living collection, are an
aggregate of good that go far to wiping out
personal griefs and will cause me to look back
with intensified gratitude to God upon the Old
Year.'

The year 1896 opened for my brother much
as its predecessors had done. All his indoor
occupations interested him as much as usual,
and with the exception of some severe twinges
of pain in the spring he was, to all appearance,
in a fair state of health.

Perhaps some dim prevision of a life not
realised, some scarcely conscious intimation of
a coming change, which visits those who are
gradually being led towards the place of shadows

1 Marquis of Exeter.

L>30 LORD LILFORD

which we call Death, mingled, during the last
few months, with my brother's ordinary lines of
thought ; for he spoke to my sister-in-law, in a
manner not usual with him, of his wishes on
certain points, and dwelt on the recollection of
serene days of happiness spent with her.

On May 8 his first grandchild ' was born
at Lilford, and more welcome even than the
appearance in his morning-room of a consign-
ment of rare and valuable skins, was the sight
of the bundle of flannel that contained the
precious little heir. During the beautiful May
weather he was out as usual in his bath-chair,
and was able to attend the otter hunt of
May 30.

It was in the early morning of June 3 that
he was seized with the malady which he most
dreaded, the pitiless influenza, which had already
attacked him a few years previously with great
severity. He made a fair rally however, in spite
of a relapse some ten days after the original
attack, and seemed to be holding his own up to
June 16. But that day chanced to be the most
overpoweringly hot one of a hot and dry summer,

1 The Hon. Thomas Atherton Powys.

THE END 231

and he had not sufficient vitality to resist its
effects.

On the morning of the 17th a fatal attack
of syncope set in, and about four o'clock in the
afternoon he passed into the life whose law is
progression in all knowledge, and where faithful
service finds its choicest reward in widened pos-
sibilities. It is not possible, nor is it needful,
to describe the dark shadow that the news of
his loss threw over the place and neighbour-
hood. The radiance of summer beauty lay over
the grey old house and the brightly coloured
flowers, and the sun sparkled on the slow-moving
river, as in happier seasons. Yet it seemed to
sorrowing hearts as though the light itself were
dimmed, and the passing shadows deepened.
Deep regret and sympathy were felt throughout
the country when the news became known.
Neighbours near and far had either visited,
or knew by report, the old country house on the
Nene, and the unique personality and surround-
ings of its owner had excited an interest even
in those who had no personal knowledge of him.

' You would hardly believe how the sad news
has affected all classes,' wrote the Eev. F. M.

232 LORD LILFORD

Stopford, Eector of the Lilford living of Tich-
marsh. ' Hardly anyone but has felt it as a per-
sonal grief ; even the Kadical papers have kindly
notices.'

Letters poured in expressive of the personal
loss sustained by the writers, and case after
case came to light where the left hand knew
at length what the right had been doing. Mr.
Devereux, of St. Mary's, Hoxton, told a story
of ever-ready help continued anonymously for
years, and a poor student of natural history could
point to a meagre bookshelf enriched by the gift
of copies of the ' Coloured Plates.' And those
were only isolated instances of the many acts of
kindness dictated by a warm heart to a crippled
hand.

The services he rendered to the science of
ornithology only ended with his life. Professor
Newton writes : • His promise to defray the cost
of a plate in each number of the Ibis was more
than literally fulfilled for the rest of his life.'
He was not only the President, but the mainstay
of a Natural History Society formed in his own
county, and exercised a discreet generosity in
supporting almost every scheme that made for

HIS LIBERALITY 233

the progress of zoology. ' On a good case being
made out his pecuniary help was always forth-
corning and never stinted in amount.'

He commissioned Dr. Henry Guillemard to
investigate the zoology of Cyprus, and partly
furnished the means for Mr. Trevor Battye's
expedition to the island of Kolguev. Many
museums have been enriched by his liberality.

From his collection of birds' eggs no fewer
than four Great Auk's eggs were given away
during his lifetime.

He had, for some years past, felt a strong
wish that a work dealing with the European
mammals should be given to the world by
someone competent to undertake the task, and,
owing to his personal liberality and support, the
scheme seemed likely to be carried out. Mr. Old-
field Thomas, of the British Museum, Cromwell
Koad, writes to me October 27, 1896 : ' Your
brother put at my disposal a sum of £50 a
year for the improvement of our collection of
European mammals, and this quite unofficially
and privately, without any formal acknowledge-
ment and merely for the advancement of
science. For many years he had a great wish

234 LORD LILFORD

that a general work should be published on
the mammals of Europe, and it was on my
telling him that specimens must be collected
in large numbers before such a work could be
prepared, that he offered to assist in the way I
have mentioned.'

The following is from Mr. H. E. Dresser,
F.L.S., author of ' Birds of Europe,' an old friend
of my brother's :

' The Athenaeum, Pall Mall, S.W.: March 29, 1900.

1 . . . When writing the memoir of your
late brother, Lord Lilford, I hope you will lay
full stress on the fact of his extreme generosity
and kindness of heart to those who were de-
serving and in need of assistance. I have on
several occasions acted as his almoner in order
that the recipient should not know from whence
the assistance came, and I think I have already
given you full particulars of at least one instance
of his disinterested generosity. He was always
ready and most willing to assist any young
naturalist or explorer who was hampered for
want of funds, and I think I have told you
how generously he came forward and offered me

LETTER FROM H. E. DRESSER 235

substantial pecuniary assistance when I was
writing and publishing, at my own expense, my
work on the " Birds of Europe," and which then
threatened to be a losing concern. That I was
able to weather the storm without his kindly
proffered assistance does not make me less
grateful to him, for it gave me fresh courage to
proceed with the work when I began to feel
somewhat downhearted.

' You can perhaps best testify to his sweet-
ness of disposition, but I cannot help recalling
how I have seen him sitting with his hands
swathed in cotton wool, when suffering from a
severe attack of gout, and at the same time
conversing as pleasantly as if he were in perfect
health, when so many men, under similar cir-
cumstances, would be using somewhat strong

language.

' I remain, yours sincerely,

' H. E. Dresser.'

The following recollections are from one who
knew him well, who was with him through many
attacks of serious illness :

236 LORD LILFORD

' I well remember our first meeting. It was
at dinner in Upper Brook Street, in 1882.

1 There was something very attractive in
the strong handsome face and gentle voice, and
in the self-forgetfulness of one who, though
obviously ill and in pain, was interested in
everyone around him and in every subject but
himself.

1 There was an especial charm, too, in talking
to one who seemed to be on friendly terms with
strange birds and beasts — who was as familiar
with a Lammergeyer or an Imperial Eagle as
with a Sparrowhawk ; who " knew them at
home," as boys at Winchester used sometimes
to say of familiar friends — quite a different
thing from knowing their stuffed skins in a
cabinet, and productive of a different type of
naturalist.

1 In after years, when I had the privilege
of knowing Lord Lilford much better, it was
easier to understand the attractiveness of his
character in the extraordinary calm, the un-
selfish gentleness under conditions which most
of us would have found intolerable. For
although under Lady Lilford' s constant care

RECOLLECTIONS BY DR. DREWITT 237

and devoted nursing, attacks of illness became
less acute and life more bearable, scarcely a
day was passed without pain, and there was no
escape from utter helplessness.

' Few even of his friends knew how complete
this helplessness was, and under what difficulties
existence was carried on. They scarcely realised
that during the last ten years of his life he was
not only unable to stand, but even to turn from
side to side without help, and that the only
possible exercise was taken in a bath-chair, into
which and out of which he was lifted in a sheet
by his servants.

' Yet he accounted his life a happy one —
happier than that of most — and he was continu-
ally employed, either in untold acts of kindness
— often to mere strangers — or in preparing the
two beautiful works on ornithology by which,
when those who knew and loved him are no
more, his name will chiefly be remembered.

' And through it all there was no thought of
self-advertisement, no wish for notoriety. He
seemed free from all the meaner aims and
ambitions. There was no consciousness even of
social position.

238 LORD LILFORD

' Nor was there ever a murmur at his help-
lessness and pain, nor an angry word for a
servant who might hurt his sensitive limbs, but
perfect courtesy for all, even for the tiresome
and the ignorant ; courtesy and consideration
which pame from the wide understanding of
a great heart. Courtesy which almost enabled
him to " suffer fools gladly."

1 As a field naturalist few can have been
his equals. As a rule we are too energetic, too
hurried, to be good observers. But Lord Lilford
had the rare power of being still. In Nature all
things come to those who can wait, and to those
only. We are apt to forget that in the open air
hundreds of creatures see us of whose existence
we are unaware ; that hundreds of others hear
us ; that while we think ourselves quiet and
observant, our movements, our footsteps, our
voices are for ever betraying us.

' Lord Lilford was the great exception to
this rule. He could be still. And so the
squirrels would come to his feet, the moorhens
would nod and chuckle round him, and the
kingfisher would settle on his rod. And he in
the meantime, from the prison of his bath-chair,

RECOLLECTIONS 239

would reap that rich "harvest of a quiet eye."
Always in sympathy with Nature he could see
the faint footprint of an otter on the bank, and
know the bird on the horizon by its flight, or the
little hawk far overhead by its cry.

' One instance among many I will give of his
natural history instincts. In the summer of
1886, news was brought that a small hawk with
sharp wings and a cry like that of a Wryneck,
had been seen a few miles away. Lord Lilford
not only decided that it was a Hobby (a little
falcon which comes and goes with the swallows),
but that it had a nest in an oak-tree in a certain
wood ; a wood with which, unhappily, he could
have had no recent acquaintance.

' The next morning, between three and four
o'clock, Kichard Cosgrave, the head falconer,
went in search of the nest. I happened to be
at Lilford and went with him.

' How little do we see of that heaven-sent
time, the top of a midsummer morning, when
the dew is fresh on the grass and the breath of
the country is sweet, and all creatures are our
friends ! That morning the birds we passed
seemed hardly afraid of us, and a fox trotting

240 LORD LILFORD

slowly home after its night's hunting stopped
and turned to stare.

' It was always Lord Lilford's favourite time.
In earlier life he was often at the riverside before
the world was well awake.

1 No woodman had yet disturbed the wood ;
so the nest was soon found — in an old crow's
nest, on the top of a high oak tree, just as Lord
Lilford had predicted — and three young Hobbies
were crouching at the bottom of it.1

1 All through that summer one of the most
delightful things in the world was to watch them
" at hack " ; free to fly where they liked, ever
ready to return to the falconer's whistle. At
one moment dots in the blue sky, at the next
light as Ariel playing round our heads.

' No one knew better than Lord Lilford the
beauty of the flight of a sharp-winged bird, and
until the time came for these rare little falcons
to go South they were a continual delight to
him.

1 ' The accompanying photograph shows them on their
arrival at Lilford, still covered with " down," and with new
"jesses" on their legs. In another two of them are seen sitting
on the falconer's hand, their long feathers grown and their training

over.'

00
00

■I. ~

g *>

3 *

m %

O o

W '•

bo

s

••s

00

r3

Photo, by F. D. Dreirit .
HOBBIES OX FALCONER'S HAND, SEPTEMBER 1886.
From Nest at Lilford, July 1886.

RECOLLECTIONS 241

1 And they, on their part, must have been
sorry when one September day it was found that
they had obeyed the inexorable law of migra-
tion, and had left the good food and the thick
elms of Lilford, to march with their tribe.

' For mere falconry they had not been a
success, even under Cosgrave's careful training.
The feet and claws of a Hobby are too small to
be very dangerous to other birds.

' Lord Lilford used to say that sometimes
they caught bats in the evening, but that they
generally fed on large moths and cockchafers.
Degenerate falcons Hobbies seem to be, who have
resigned their rightful pursuit of ornithology to
become entomologists !

' Many other Falcons were to be seen at
Lilford. Every visitor to the house knew them
on their blocks under the cedar.

' Trained Peregrines were always there, and
varieties of Peregrines from all parts of the
world ; though the oak, and the elm, and the
bonnie beech tree grew too well in Northampton-
shire to permit much hawking, except with a
short-winged Goshawk.

' Wild Peregrines, too, every winter followed

R

242 LORD LILFORD

the wild-duck to the valley of the Nene and
found sanctuary. No keeper shot or trapped
them, and Lord Lilford himself used to say :

' " I would rather see a fine stoop and kill by
a wild falcon than shoot fifty brace of partridges
to my own gun."

' Two beautiful Greenland Falcons were at
Lilford in the eighties. Great calm birds full of
dignity.

1 Lanners, too, were generally to be seen on the
terrace — near relations of the Peregrine — but
with the light and dark markings less clearly
defined. One missed the dark head and the
broad black moustache and narrow black bars
of the old Peregrine. In England they are not
now considered good hunting hawks. But Lord
Lilford was always interested in then. In the
good old days of falconry the Lanner had a great
reputation among falconers ; but when the
world for its sins was cursed with guns and gun-
powder, falconry died, and now the Lanner's
name is almost forgotten.

' All Lanners come from the south ; Lord
Lilford' s were brought from Spain and Morocco.
He believed that there are two unrecognised

RECOLLECTIONS L'43

varieties — one with a paler head than the other.
Possibly one reason why the Greenland Falcon
and the Lanner neither live long nor fly well
with us, is owing to the fact that each conies
from a very different climate to that of England,
and requires greater skill in training than the
nineteenth century possesses. On the Sahara
the Lanner is the favourite falcon of the Arabs.
An Arab sheik who kept falcons in South
Algeria once told me that he preferred the
Lanner to the Peregrine. His Lanners flew
excellently and were so tame that two of them
would sit side by side, unhooded, on my arm.
In Egypt, too, a Lanner dashing after a dovecot
pigeon or calmly flying across the Nile with
a Pied Kingfisher in its claws, followed by a
screaming crowd of the victim's nearest rela-
tions, are sights not to be forgotten.

' The god Horus, the emblem of the morning,
evidently has the head of a Lanner. There was
every reason why one who knew as much of the
history of birds as Lord Lilford should reverence
the Lanner.

' I well remember his delight on seeing four
Lanner's eggs which I brought him from a nest

E 2

244 LORD LILFORD

on one of the Pyramids. Lanners must have
nested there in the time of Abraham.

' Many only know our large birds of prey from
those seen in Zoological Gardens — drooping,
dejected, draggle-tailed, dirtier often than a
London sparrow in December — with no pro-
tection (save the bars of the cage) from snow or
rain, or August sun. To such it was a revela-
tion to visit Lilford. There, in the eagle-house,
Harriers, Buzzards, and Kites in perfect plumage
would fly round Lord Lilford' s head as he was
wheeled into the enclosure. A Tawny Eagle
would quietly sit on a branch close by him,
and an Egyptian Vulture which had not lost
any of its small allowance of self-respect,
with bright yellow face and clean feathers,
would march up to the wheels of the bath-
chair.

'In the separate enclosures the Black and
Griffon Vultures danced and curtseyed as if they
enjoyed life, White-shouldered Imperial Eagles
of different ages sat side by side, and Golden
Eagles nested. Across the courtyard sat a
White-tailed Eagle, Irish born and English bred,
the oldest inhabitant of the aviary. It arrived

RECOLLECTIONS

246

at Lilford during the Crimean war and lived
until 1898.

' It was
an instance
— p r o b a b 1 y
an unusual
one — of a
bird living
much longer
in captivity
than it could
have lived
in freedom.
Unlike the
Golden Ea-
gle, which
has its nest
in a High-
land deer
forest and is
protected by
the owner,

Jiitu* < >*sv

the White-
tailed Eagle (the Erne, the Sea-Eagle) haunts
the sea-coast, and has been the target of every

246 LORD LILFOKD

skin-hunting shore-shooter and bird-stuffer, until
it has been practically exterminated. This
bird, at all events, escaped that fate.

' But of all the sights of Lilford, perhaps the
most startling was that of two Lammergeyers
flying round the house, or over the deer park.
Gigantic birds, larger than any Golden Eagle,
fierce-eyed, and bearded like goats : so harm-
less that neither deer nor Indian partridges in
the field were alarmed when the great shadow
of their wings passed by ; but so fearful
looking that when one of them descended, like
Lucifer, on the neighbouring village of Pilton,
the women and children fled to their houses, and
fastened windows and doors.

' It was often a pleasant surprise to see in the
aviaries birds which one only knew from a
stuffed skin or inaccurate drawing. The Avocet,
for example — now one of our rarest visitors — is
generally known from an engraving in which a
black-and-white bird, apparently the size of a
stork and the shape of a soda-water bottle, is
standing bolt upright. But all preconceived
notions of the Avocet had to be changed when
a flock of these beautiful little birds arrived

RECOLLECTIONS 247

from Spain, and could be seen running like Sand-
pipers round an aviary pool and fishing for food
with their graceful retrousse bills half under water.

' The Bittern is another instance. Whether
in an engraving or seen as a stuffed skin in
a glass case, it is generally standing upright —
fierce, open-billed, its tawny mane spread,
looking rather like a lion. There were several
Bitterns at one time or another at Lilford ;
curious skulking birds, evidently trusting to
their colour to escape observation when ap-
proached ; then generally crouching ; always
motionless, sometimes with bills pointing to
the sky, and with long thin necks drawn out
until they exactly imitated dead sticks with
brown mottled bark.

' One evening at Lilford I had the rare
chance of watching a Bittern when uttering its
wonderful "booming" note. It was about an
hour after sunset, not too dark to see it. The
head was slowly lowered until it touched the
ground, which it tapped once or twice. Then a
double note was repeated two or three times —
the first a faint distant grunt, the second a
loud hollow sound, something like the lowing of

248 LORD LILFORD

an ox. It could have been nearly imitated by
drumming with the fist on an empty barrel.

1 Much more could be said on such a fasci-
nating subject as the bird-life of Lilford, but a
more competent authority, Professor Newton of
Cambridge, has already shown in his excellent
introduction to Lord Lilford's book on " British
Birds" how greatly ornithologists are indebted
to the author. I only write as one who must be
for ever grateful for what I learnt from Lord
Lilford, both as a man and as an ornithologist.

' The word " auspicious " is said to be derived
from the words aves = birds, and spicere = to look
at ; Lord Lilford's happy life, a pleasure to
himself and a source of pleasure to others, helps
us to believe in the truth of that derivation.

1 F. Dawtbey Dee witt,' M.D.

Photo, F. D.Dincitt.

GREENLAND FALCON, Lilford 1886.

249

CHAPTER VI

Lord Lilford's Notes on his Aviaries at Lilford— Fragment of
unpublished Article — Lepus LilforcU — Finis.

On special days during the summer months
the grounds at Lilford were thrown open to
visitors from the neighbouring towns. The
day's outing was most popular, and streams of
excursionists from Northampton, Peterborough,
and other smaller towns, added to their know-
ledge of the feathered world by the inspection of
the aviaries at Lilford. On these occasions, in
spite of my brother's politics, which were suffi-
ciently indicated by his playful signature of
* yours Torily ' in letters to intimate friends,
a Northampton cobbler from a Radical club had
as good a chance of a ticket of admission as any
workman of Conservative views. It is pleasant
to add that the privilege was never abused, by
either Radical or Tory.

The following notes were written by my

250

LOKD LILFORD

brother for the Natural History Society at
Northampton, and were read at one of their
meetings in 1894 :

r**>>

NOTES ON LIVING ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTION

AT LILFORD

' . . . I will begin by a cordial invitation
to all present who may care to see my collections,

to pay them a visit
in May, June, July, or
August, simply asking
that any who are so
disposed will write to
me direct, giving name,
address, and probable
number of party. . . .
' It is probable that
some of those present
have already visited
Lilford, and to these
I sorrowfully an-
nounce that my old
raven, whom they will remember as one of
the most amusing of our living creatures,
went blind some years ago and died last year.

PALE VARIETY OF HONEY BUZZARD
AT LILFORD 1892. PEN-AND-INK
SKETCH.

hi

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(85

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pq '-

HIS NOTES ON THE LILFORD COLLECTION 251

His companion of later years is quite as amus-
ing, but not quite so familiar and sociable as
the "late lamented," whose name he constantly
repeats and has apparently taken to himself.

' One afternoon in November last I heard
these ravens making a very unusual clamour
close in front of the house, and on looking out
of window perceived that they had got hold
of, and nearly killed, a Peregrine Falcon. I sent
out a servant, who secured the falcon without
difficulty. We found that it was an old wild
bird suffering from a sort of asthma known
to falconers as the " croaks," and some-
what poor in flesh. I would willingly have
tried to keep this falcon alive and restored it
to liberty, but the ravens had injured it so
severely that it was only common mercy to kill
it. How and why it allowed itself to be seized
and worried by its antagonists we can never
know.

' Our Spanish Bear will also probably be
remembered by any who have come to Lilford
during the ten years that she has been here ; I
am glad to say that she is still well, though
occasionally subject to rheumatism resulting

262 LORD LILFORD

from an injury to one of her legs on her journey
to this place. In connection with this animal
a rather amusing incident occurred some years
ago. I was anxious to provide her with a
companion of the other sex, and having heard
of several of these in the possession of a dealer,
during my absence from home entered into
negotiations for the purchase of a young male
from Eussia. The dealer in question accepted
my terms without sending me a reply, and the
next news of the matter that reached me at
Bournemouth was a telegram from Lilford
announcing the arrival there of a female bear,
without any previous warning or advice of
despatch. Upon this I telegraphed to the
dealer, saying that the animal sent was of the
wrong sex and would be returned to him at
once. It will hardly be believed that on receiving
this message my enterprising friend sent off a
second bear to Lilford without notice, and again
a female ! — so that for one night there were
three she-bears on the premises.

' My old bear is very good-tempered as a
rule, but on one or two occasions has shown
great fury to strangers without any apparent

HIS NOTES ON THE LILFORD COLLECTION 2o3

cause. She is now so accustomed to solitude as
regards her own species, that I should hardly
like to introduce a younger and weaker bear of
either sex into her company. It is perhaps
worthy of note that this bear is particularly fond
of the leaves of the elm, but either wholly
rejects or shows no liking for those of any other
of our common trees.

' My collection of mammalia is small.
Perhaps the most interesting of this order of
animals to the general public now living at
Lilford, would be the Buffed Lemur from
Madagascar, a beautiful nocturnal animal allied
to the family of monkeys, with fine long black-
and-white fur. Two Collared Fruit-bats have
been here some years, but as these beasts spend
the whole day hanging head downwards from
the top of their cage, I can hardly expect that
the ordinary visitor should care much about
them ; their bodies are, roughly speaking, about
the size of a moderate-sized common rat ; the
outstretched wings would measure about three
feet, perhaps more, from point to point. This
species breeds annually in the Zoological
Gardens, whence I procured my specimens. It

254 LORD LILFORD

is found in Egypt, Palestine, and Cyprus, where
it commits great ravages upon dates and other
fruit.

1 1 have living specimens of the four European
species of Dormouse, but have nothing of any
general interest to record about them except
that one species, known as the " Garden
Dormouse," does not exhibit the drowsy ten-
dencies of our common English Dormouse or
the two others of this family in the daytime,
but is always remarkably active, and ready to
bite and scratch whenever handled. We have
during the last two years bred a good many of
the exceedingly pretty striped mouse of Africa,
known as the Barbary mouse, from a pair pro-
cured for me by a friend in Morocco.

' We have not taken the trouble to make
special pets of any of these mice, but they are
not only very tameable, but also capable of a
considerable amount of education. A lady ] who
paid us a visit last year brought one of these
little animals with her, and had taught it to sit
up on a doll's chair, open a little cupboard and
take sugar from a drawer, hold up and drink

1 The Honourable Mabel de Grev.

HIS NOTES ON THE LILFORD COLLECTION 255

milk or tea from a tea-cup, sham dead at her
command, and perform other tricks ; in fact this
mouse displayed quite as much intelligence as
an average lady's lapdog, in his degree.

1 Although we have had many losses amongst
my birds of prey, some of the oldest denizens of
our aviaries are of this class, in fact the most
ancient living creature in the collection is a
White-tailed or Sea Eagle, taken from a nest in
the south of Ireland in the early spring of 1854,
and therefore now very nearly forty years of age.
It is only of late that she has shown any signs
of old age in a certain lack of activity that
causes her to remain much upon the ground
instead of perching, but she is still in very fine
plumage, and it would, I think, be extremely
dangerous for a stranger to venture into her
compartment.

' This species of eagle has been so persecuted
and killed down in its former breeding-haunts
in Scotland and Ireland, that I may say with
certainty that, at the outside, not more than
three pairs now nest in the United Kingdom.
A few stragglers visit our country irregularly on
passage, probably from Norway, and meet with

256 LORD LILFORD

no mercy ; being, with few exceptions, shot or
trapped at once, and almost invariably recorded
in the newspapers as " magnificent specimens of
the Golden Eagle."

' This Golden Eagle is far more common in
Scotland than the Sea Eagle, but fortunately
seldom travels to any very considerable distance
from its mountain haunts. Northamptonshire
is one of the few English counties that can lay
claim to an occurrence of the Golden Eagle
within its limits, whilst nearly every English
county is guilty of the blood of the Sea Eagle.
A very fine immature female of this latter
species was killed at Oakley, near Kettering,
in February 1891, and I am acquainted with
several other occurrences in Northamptonshire.
In my opinion there is no sense or reason in the
destruction of an eagle in our country, but so
long as British bird-collectors offer long prices
for specimens slaughtered within the limits of
the four seas, every loafer with a gun will very
naturally shoot every feathered thing that offers
him a chance.

1 Mr. Cosgrave, my chief in charge of the
Lilford collections, assures me that the birds

HIS NOTES ON THE LILFOIM) COLLECTION 257

which afford most amusement to our numerous
visitors are a Black and a Griffon Vulture
which have been here since 1805 and 1867.
They were both taken in my presence from
their respective nests in Spain. The former
bird is a female, and for the last twelve or
thirteen years has regularly made a large nest
and laid from one to three eggs annually.
Since the Griffon (of whose sex I am uncer-
tain) has been in the same compartment with
this Black Vulture, it has annually taken a share
in making the nest, and displayed quite equal
ferocity on the approach of human visitors.
The first egg is generally laid during the first
week of March.

' As I considered the pairing of these two
birds — though extremely improbable — as not
entirely impossible, I have once or twice left
the eggs in the nest, but, although assiduously
incubated by both birds, they have invariably
proved infertile. However, for months after
the eggs have been removed the Black Vulture,
when anyone approaches the front of the com-
partment, goes through a variety of most
grotesque antics that provoke the most stolid

s

258 LORD LILFORD

of visitors into roars of laughter, and must be
seen to be believed in. At all events, I should be
extremely puzzled to do them adequate justice
with pen and ink. During this performance of
its companion, the Griffon Vulture frequently
assumes very absurd attitudes of defiance —
possibly of admiration — but does not take any
very active part in the " show."

' We have two fine Bearded Vultures, or Larn-
mergeyers, one of which (with a companion that
has died very lately) enjoyed complete liberty,
since its arrival here as a nestling, till a few days
ago, when I was obliged to have it caught up
and confined on account of its insisting on
making the roof of the house its roosting-place.
I extremely regret this necessity, as the sight
of these large birds soaring about the place,
generally pursued by a cloud of rooks, was
certainly unique in England, and afforded to me,
who am well acquainted with the Larnmergeyer
in its native haunts, a constant source of interest
and pleasant memories of localities that are still,
to a great extent, unspoiled by man.

' These birds of mine were very tame and per-
fectly harmless ; indeed, with the exception of a

Eh

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- -
-

--

— I r-

HIS NOTES ON THE L1LFORD COLLECTION 259

few playful attacks on trousers, gaiters, petticoats,
and boots, I never heard of any malice on their
part towards any living creature. Their natural
food consists of carrion and garbage of all sorts,
tortoises, and other small reptiles, and I hold
the many stories that are current on the Con-
tinent of their carrying off children, lambs, and
kids, as very nearly, if not entirely, mythical.

1 Amongst the most beautiful of our recent
acquisitions in Eaptorial birds is an adult white-
bellied Sea Eagle from Australia. This is the first
of its species that I ever possessed, and its
strikingly contrasted plumage of pure rich grey
and white renders it a very great ornament to
the collection. I have many other eagles of
great interest to myself, but not calling for
special notice in notes intended for a more or
less public meeting. Of my favourite birds the
owls, I have at this time of writing some
twenty different species alive. I may mention
as special varieties amongst them, a very fine
Nepaul Wood Owl, a South African Eagle Owl,
and four Ural Owls. I believe these birds to be
the only living representatives of their respec-
tive species now in England.

s 2

260 LORD LILFORD

1 Whilst on the subject of owls, I may add
that for several years past I have annually set
at liberty a considerable number of the Little
Owl, properly so called {Athene noctua), from
Holland, and that several pairs of these most
amusing birds have nested and reared broods in
the neighbourhood of Lilford. It is remarkable
that although this species is abundant in
Holland, and by no means uncommon in cer-
tain parts of France, Belgium, and Germany,
it has been rarely met with in a wild state
in our country. I trust, however, that I have
now fully succeeded in establishing it as a
Northamptonshire bird, and earnestly entreat
all present who may have the opportunity to
protect and encourage these birds. They are
excellent mouse-catchers, and very bad neigh-
bours to young sparrows in their nests ; therefore,
valuable friends to farmers and gardeners. The
nest of this owl is generally placed either in a
hollow tree, at no great height from the ground,
or in vacant spaces in the masonry of old build-
ings. The parent birds are very bold in defence
of their young, and a neighbour of ours has had
his hat knocked off by one of these Little Owls

A. 1 no i -burn.

MONTAGU'S HARRIER.

Black Variety (with black iris) from France. Lilford 18!».'i.

HIS NOTES ON THE LILFORD COLLECTION '261

as he passed near the ash-tree in which there
was a brood of young — a fact of which he was
quite unconscious.

' I confess that when this story was originally
told to me by a third person I had my doubts
as to its truth, but last summer I had an
opportunity of inquiring from the aforesaid
neighbour, who assured me that not only was
this story perfectly true, but that he had been
again attacked last year in a different locality
by a Little Owl that no doubt had young ones in
the roof of an old church hard by. These Little
Owls are very easily tamed if taken in hand
whilst quite young, and besides their taste for
mice are very efficient in the destruction of
cockroaches and other beetles.

' I cannot help once more taking up a text
that I have, I fear, worn almost threadbare
already ; it is — never destroy or molest an owl
of any sort. I consider all the owls are not
only harmless, but most useful, and the Barn,
White, or Screech Owl as perhaps the most
serviceable to man of English birds. I think
that farmers and gamekeepers have discovered
that in destroying owls they are murdering their

262 LORD LILFORD

best friends, but as long as women persist in
disfiguring themselves by wearing owls' heads
and wings as ornaments, and dealers will give a
price for these birds to make up into screens, for
which they find a ready sale, so long will the
idiotic destruction of owls continue.

1 To revert to the collections at Lilford, we
have a large number of caged birds of many
different species, amongst which I may specially
mention, as sweet singers, a Blue Eock Thrush
that we took from the nest on the coast of
Sardinia nearly twelve years ago, and two of a
small dark race of Blackcap from Madeira that
have passed five winters at Lilford, and are both
singing in the room in which I am now writing.

' I must not forget the very beautiful Indian
birds commonly known as " Shama," of which I
have two. The natural notes of this bird are
very varied and powerful — many of them ex-
tremely sweet — and they readily imitate the
songs of other species and, indeed, almost any
other sound that they can compass. To those of
you who care about birds, and are not acquainted
with the Shama, I may say that this bird is
larger than a Redbreast, to which it has a cer-

HIS NOTES ON mi: LILFORD COLLECTION i'«i:5

tain resemblance in shape, but it has a tail
longer in relative proportion than that of our
Common Magpie. Eoughly speaking, the upper
parts of the plumage, head, and throat are glossy
black, the breast of a tawny orange colour, and
the long tail black and white. No more charm-
ing cage-bird than this can be found ; but, alas !
it is not very long-lived and very susceptible of
cold and damp.

'Another cage-bird worthy of notice, from
its rarity, beauty, and pleasant song, is the
so-called " Teydean " Chaffinch. The natural
habitat of this species is strictly limited to a
high zone of the Peak of Tenerife. It has
never been met with elsewhere. I may briefly
describe this bird as considerably larger than our
Common Chaffinch and of a general fine grey
colour.

1 1 have recently lost another bird of great
interest from its rarity and the locality from
which it was forwarded to me. I allude to the
Chestnut-winged Grackle {Amydrus Tristrami).
This bird, the only one of its species that has
ever been seen alive in this country, is of a
family allied to the Starlings and Crows, and

264 LORD LILFORD

was procured from the neighbourhood of the
monastery of Mar-saba, not far from Bethlehem.
The monks protect and encourage these birds,
which become quite tame and nest in the
caverns and fissures of the cliffs in the gorge
of the "Brook Kedron," and similar localities
in Southern Palestine. Mar-saba is somewhat
difficult of access, but frequently visited by
tourists in the Holy Land, to whom the bird to
which I am referring is generally known as the
Golden-winged Blackbird. Canon Tristram tells
us that the male has a loud and melodious
whistle, but my bird was a female, and almost
silent.

' Amongst my most beautiful cage-birds I
must note two species of South American Jay,
the Common Blue Jay of North America, the
so-called "Blue Bobin " from the same country,
the Green Leaf-Bird from South India, and a
Troupial from Brazil.

1 In what we at Lilford specially designate as
the aviaries I have a considerable variety of
birds from different parts of the world. Amongst
those most likely to arrest the attention of
visitors unlearned in birds are a group of

HIS NOTES ON THE LILFOKD COLLECTION 265

Avocets, with their curiously delicate up-turned
beaks, their plumage of pure black and white,
and their long grey legs and half-webbed feet.
These pretty and interesting birds were formerly
common in certain parts of England, and bred
in considerable numbers upon the coast of
Norfolk, but have now become scarce from the
persecution of gunners and egg-stealers. My
Avocets were sent to me from Holland.

' We have also several Sea Pies, better known
perhaps as Oyster-catchers, and a good many
other small wading birds such as Curlew, Godwits
of both species, Kuffs and Eeeves, Eedshanks
and Knots. The antics of the Kuffs during May
and June are most amusing.

1 As I believe that the breeding of the Wood-
pigeon in captivity is not a common occurrence,
I mention that a pair of these birds nested and
laid four times last year in the compartment of
the aviary nearest to the house at Lilford, and
reared three young birds to maturity. I have a
fine pair of the Wood-pigeon peculiar to the
island of Madeira (Columba trocaz), and many of
the very beautiful Crested Doves of Australia,
which breed freely in the bushes of the aviary.

266 LORD LiLFOED

Another very brilliantly plumaged bird of the
pigeon family is the green and gold Nicobar
Pigeon, but this bird has no attraction except
the brilliancy of its plumage ; it is sluggish, and
often remains crouching under a bush for hours
together.

1 Some fine Purple Gallinules or Waterhens,
with red beaks and legs, are pretty sure to
attract notice. The birds of this family now in
the aviary are from Cochin China.

' "We have four species of Ibis — the brilliant
Scarlet Ibis from South America, the black
and white Sacred Ibis from the Upper Nile,
the Australian Ibis that very closely resembles
it, and a small flock of the European Glossy
Ibis. These last-named birds were sent to
me from Spain, and it may amuse some of
you to hear that in the winter of 1892 I sent
out a list of birds to an agent in Seville,
who has for some years been in the habit of
collecting live birds for me. In making out this
list I wrote opposite to the Spanish name of the
Glossy Ibis (which is not in most seasons a very
common bird in Andalusia), two Spanish words
that might be liberally translated as meaning a

HIS NOTES ON THE LILFORD COLLECTION 267

good many. My amazement may be imagined
when I inform you that in June 1893 I heard
from my agent aforesaid that he had ninety-five
of these birds awaiting my orders ! I told him
that I did not want more than twenty or thirty
at the outside, but he nevertheless shipped sixty
of them from Gibraltar, all of which were
landed alive and in good condition in London,
and twelve of them forwarded to Lilford.1 These
birds have a very peculiar habit of taking the
sun by elevating one wing to its full extent
towards the sky and drooping the other to the
ground in an attitude that I have never seen in
any other bird.

1 In the central division of the aviary are a
small flock of Alpine Choughs, very active and
noisy birds, with black plumage, yellow beaks,
and red legs. Many of this species have nested
and laid eggs in their compartment, but in the
few instances in which the eggs have been
hatched out, the parent birds have abandoned
their young.

' I have had many of that beautiful species

1 Many of these were given by my brother to the Zoological
Gardens in Regent's Park, where they have continually nested and
reared young ones.

268 LORD LILFORD

the Eed-legged or Cornish Chough, but although
they thrive well in complete liberty, I have found
it impossible to keep them in health in the aviary
for any length of time.

' Other most lively and amusing inmates of
this part of the aviary are the Nutcrackers — rare
and irregular stragglers of the Crow family to
our country, but common enough in many of the
forests of Central and Northern Europe. These
birds, in their native haunts, commence laying
in March, whilst the snow still lies deep upon
the ground. Whether from this or some other
cause it is, comparatively speaking, only of
recent years that the eggs of the Nutcrackers
have become generally known to ornithologists,
and I had offered a high price for the living bird
to English and foreign dealers for thirty years
before I could obtain even one of them. During
the last few years I have been offered many more
of these birds than I require. The seeds of various
coniferous trees, especially those of Pimis cembra,
are the favourite food of the Nutcracker.

1 The farthest division of the aviary, divided
into three compartments, I have devoted princi-
pally to aquatic birds, amongst which a small

/

HIS NOTES ON THE LILFORD COLLECTION 269

group of Flamingoes are perhaps the most remark-
able, not only from the beautiful roseate colour of
the upper parts of their wings, and their extrava-
gantly long necks and legs, but also from the
extraordinary and apparently unnatural positions
that they constantly assume. On one occasion
a damsel who visited the Flamingoes with a
large party, on seeing these birds, was heard to
exclaim to her mother : " Oh, ma ! do just look
at these great geese. Wouldn't they just make
fine giblets ! " We have never put the necks of
these birds into culinary use, but the flesh of
their bodies is tolerably good eating, and there
is a tradition to the effect that their tongues
were considered great delicacies by the epi-
cures of Old Eome. I have seen man}' acres
of marsh thickly covered by Flamingoes in
Southern Spain, and the effect of the rising or
setting sun upon a dense flock of these birds on
the wing is indescribabl}7 beautiful, giving at a
distance the effect of a floating roseate cloud.

' A Pink-headed Duck from India in this part
of the aviary, is one of the rarest birds in my
collection. During my forty years of live bird
collecting I have only obtained three of this

270 LORD LILFORD

species. The present survivor is a female, and by
no means a handsome or conspicuous bird.

' A small flock of Marbled Ducks from Spain
are worthy of notice as exceedingly rare in
living collections, though common enough in
Andalusia and North-West Africa. Perhaps
the most beautiful of the web-footed birds in
this portion of our aviaries are the Japanese
Teal, but with these little ducks, as indeed with
almost all others of the duck family, we have
been grievously disappointed in our hopes of
nests and eggs. In fact, with regard to the two
last-mentioned species, I am not aware of the
production even of a single egg. We have a
fine pair of the Blue-wavy or White-necked
Goose from North America, and of the White
Snow Goose from the same country.

1 In the central aviary will be found two very
beautiful species of small Herons — the Little and
the Buff-backed Egrets. My specimens came
to me from Spain, but the latter bird is very
abundant also in Egypt, and is constantly
pointed out by the guides to British tourists as
the Sacred Ibis of the ancient Egyptians — a bird
that has for many years been almost unknown

HIS NOTES ON THE LILFORD COLLECTION 271

in Lower Egypt. These Egrets are most adroit
fly-catchers, and my birds feed themselves to a
great extent on these pests during the summer
months.

1 1 have at this moment a Dominican Gull
that has been here for more than twenty years,
and has reared several broods of young hybrids,
produced by a cross with the common British
Herring Gull.

' An Australian Thick-knee, or Stone Curlew,
is a very great favourite with us, from its tame-
ness and quaint attitudes. This is a handsome
bird, considerably larger than the Thick-knee or
Stone Curlew of this country, with a delicately
contrasted plumage of various shades of brown
and buff, and brilliant yellow irides.

' In the courtyard, in a wired enclosure ad-
joining the domicile of the bear, are two of the
Great Skua (Lestris catarrJiactes), a dark-coloured
bird of the Gull family ; these birds were sent to
me from the island of Foula, in Scotland, which
island is, with the exception of one other locality
in the same group, the only British breeding-
place of this species. A few years ago an
enterprising youth at Birmingham issued a

272 LORD LILFORD

circular, proposing the formation of a syndicate
whose members should invest various sums as
shares in a fund to enable the advertiser to visit
the Orkneys and Shetland Islands to collect
birds' eggs, the plunder to be divided according
to the respective amount of subscriptions. The
eggs of the Great Skua were specially mentioned
as likely to be the most valuable result of this
looting adventure.

' In the interest of birds in general, and this
bird in particular, I at once sent the circular
above mentioned with an indignant protest to
the Editor of the Times ; Mr. Wilson Noble,
M.P. for Hastings, with whom I had no ac-
quaintance or correspondence, did the same, and
a strong leading article on the subject of the
destruction of rare birds appeared in the Times
simultaneously with these communications.
The result of all this was that the editor of one
of the leading papers in Birmingham received
an evening visit from the author of the circular,
who, in fear and trembling and dread of in-
carceration in the clock tower at Westminster,
begged that his advertisement might be with-
drawn from circulation, and confessed that it

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HIS NOTES OX THE LILFORD COLLECTION i>73

was only a scheme to obtain funds for a private
holiday-excursion to the north for egg-collecting.

' These Skuas were sent to me in charge of a
native of Foula, a small island that lies at some
eighteen miles distance from the mainland of
Shetland ; this individual had never seen a tree
worthy of the name till he took the train from
Aberdeen on his way to Lilford, and although
he spoke excellent English, was evidently of
pure Scandinavian descent, and to me as a
naturalist more interesting even than the birds
that he brought with him. The proprietor of
Foula who sent me these Skuas is very anxious
to protect the breeding birds, but the high
price offered for their eggs by unscrupulous
collectors often, I fear, proves too great a
temptation to the few inhabitants of this rocky
and unproductive island.

1 The old Skuas, or " Bonxies " as they are
called in Shetland, are very powerful and
courageous birds, and in defence of their young
will attack not only eagles and other birds of
prey, but also any four-footed animal and even
human beings. They live principally by robbing
other gulls of their prey, and, as I was assured

L'74 LOUD LILFOlil)

by the Shetlander before mentioned, frequentl}r
catch and devour the smaller gulls themselves ;
for this purpose their sharply-curved claws are
well adapted.1

' In the next enclosure to the Skuas is a group
of Great Bustards from Spain — all birds of last
year. This fine species, as most of you are
probably aware, was formerly well known and
not uncommon as a resident in various parts of
England, notably in the open districts of Nor-
folk, Suffolk, the downs of Sussex, Hampshire,
and Wiltshire, and the wolds of Yorkshire ; but
enclosure, high farming, and the increase of
population have driven the bustards away, and
in England nowadays we are only occasionally
visited by a few stragglers, that very rarely
escape the fate of all uncommon birds. In
Spain the Great Bustard is still very numerous,
and is not much molested by the natives, who
do not esteem its flesh highly. On this sub-
ject I cannot do better than refer any of those
present who maybe interested in sport or natural

1 There is an entry in my brother's diary dated August 31,
1891 : — ' I received from Shetland, as a present from Scott of Melby,
two young Great Skuas taken from a nest in Foula by one Thomas
Umphray, who came hither with them. He tells me that about
forty pairs have taken off their young on that Island this year.'

HIS NOTES OX THE LILFORD COLLECTION L>75

history to a work entitled " Wild Spain," by
Messrs. Abel Chapman and W. Buck.

' In conclusion of our round of inspection
at Lilford, we next come to what no doubt will
prove to ornithologists the plum of the collec-
tion, in an enclosure in the park behind the
house, known as the " Pinetum." Here we
have a pond with various species of ducks
and a pair of Crested Pelicans taking their
pleasure thereon, but the main interest centres
in the large collection of that very graceful
family — the Cranes. Till within a month ago
I wTas the proud possessor of specimens of all
the known species of this family save one-
the Wattled Crane of South Africa — but, alas !
my three beautiful Stanley Cranes all drooped
and died within a week, leaving a lamentable gap
in the beautiful group.

' The rarest of these Cranes is the Hooded
Crane from Japan {Grus monachus), and un-
fortunately the only individual of this species
that I have been able to obtain broke a leg-
last summer, but is in perfect health ; this is
not a very striking bird, either in colour or
size, when compared with other cranes. In my

T 2

276 LOED LILFOED

opinion the very acme of bird-beauty is reached
by the Manchurian, or Sacred Crane of Japan,
that is so commonly represented in Japanese
paintings and embroidery, and I think that the
Great White Crane of North America comes
as a very close second in elegance of shape
and grace of movement. But all the cranes
are beautiful, from the stately Sarus of India
that reaches to a height of six feet, down
to the Demoiselle of about the size of a thin
goose.

' Before leaving the Pinetum I must relate
an occurrence in connection with birds that
amused me vastly at the time, and may raise a
smile now. A visitor to Lilford who evidently
took a great interest in our birds, was just
leaving when he suddenly turned to his con-
ductor and said : " By the way, I saw in the
papers some time ago that Lord Lilford had
given a very long price for an egg of the Great
Auk ; I trust that he was successful in hatching
it " ! To those present who are aware that the
Great Auk has been virtually extinct in this
world for some fifty years, I trust that the
humour of this inquiry is apparent.

HIS NOTES ON THE L1LFORD COLLECTION 877

' I fear that this chat and the constant
but inevitable use of the first person may
have wearied many present ; to those whom
it may have interested I can only repeat the
cordial invitation with which it commenced.

1 Lilfokd : February 22, 1894.'

This fragment was written by my brother
shortly before his death. It was possibly the
beginning of an article for a magazine :

' It is only fair to the general reader to warn
him or her that the following lines contain
neither stirring adventures nor sensational epi-
sodes of any kind, nor, indeed, will he find any
poetic descriptions of picturesque or romantic-
scenery.

1 Having thus warned off my " public," I will
invite any brother naturalist of the age that
we vaguely denominate as " certain " to cast off
some forty years thereof, and accompany me in
imagination, gun in hand, for a ramble along our
ancient river, let us say in any January from
1848 to 1855 inclusive. I warn him that he
will have to content himself with a very modest
numerical bag, but I shall confidently hope to

i>78 LORD LILFORD

show him a few phases of English bird-life that
are now uncommon and, indeed, only casual at
the period to which I wish to carry him with me
in memory. I must explain that the incidents
that I purpose to relate belong to no one special
day, or indeed, to any particular year, but that
all of them have occurred to myself personally
in the localities of which I treat, and might
without improbability have happened in a day's
walk at the season above mentioned.

' We will, then, turn out after a cup of coffee
at daylight, and providing ourselves with warm
clothing walk along the meadows on the right
bank of the river in its downward course, which
is a good deal impeded by sheets of treacherous
ice, but still has many reaches of unfrozen
water. The snow lies thinly on the ground, but
under the high trees between the house and the
river the dead leaves are visible, and we are
certain to see a considerable congregation of
birds of various species seeking their break-
fast. Chaffinches are the predominant and
perhaps most conspicuous members of the
assembly, and it is more than probable that a
few of their northern cousins, the Bramblings,

UNPUBLISHED FRAGMENT 279

may make themselves scarce from under the
beech-trees on our appearance. Several Black-
birds are certain to be there and make off with
a loud chatter, whilst Robin Redbreast and
Hedge Sparrow carry on their search for food
without troubling their righteous minds about
us. Before reaching the river, at perhaps two
hundred yards from the house, we shall, if we
keep our eyes open, notice Nuthatches, a Tree-
creeper or two, many Tits of at least three
species, and very probably a Little Spotted
Woodpecker, all employed in a close examination
of the branches and twigs of the grove of high
trees under which we pass on our way to the
boathouse island, which is connected wTith the
mainland by a wooden footbridge over a back-
water. Two or three Waterhens, and probably
a " Jenny " Wren, will be about the mouth of a
small drain near this bridge, and a lovely Grey
Wagtail may be there in company. By the way,
I would ask my ornithological friends why we
should persist in giving the above name to this
pretty bird, wThose most striking colour is bright
sulphur yellow when in full dress ? " Yellow '
has been very properly applied as a distinctive

*J80 LORD LILFORD

appellation to Ray's Wagtail, but grey is the
distinguishing dress of the young of the Common
or Pied Wagtail, and it strikes me that Long-
tailed would be by far the best name for the
bird now called " Grey." This bird only visits
the neighbourhood of our home in autumn, and
a few pairs linger about our streams till April.

1 It will be well to cross over to the far side
of the little island (which is thickly overgrown
with shrubs), and have a look down the river for
any " fowl " that may be on the water. . . .'

More than a year after my brother's death,
it was found by Mr. W. E. de Winton that some
specimens of Spanish hares, presented by my
brother to the Natural History Museum at
Kensington, belonged to an undescribed species.

Mr. de Winton says : '

' It seems perfectly incredible that this
well-marked species, by far the most strikingly
coloured member of the genus, should never
have been described.' ... 'I have connected
with this handsome species ' (Lepus Lilfordi) ' the

1 Annals and Morjazme of Natural History, February 1898,
p. 154.

Ui

&

ri

= ~

-f. ^

=

"->

*

FINIS 281

name of the late Lord Lilford, in memory of
the extreme interest he took in the mammals of
Europe, and in recognition of the gracious help
he was always ready to give in assisting this
branch of zoology.'

The work I planned is finished ; I have
endeavoured to give some faint impression of
what my brother was. Of necessity this is an
incomplete account of him as a naturalist.
That task remains for abler pens. My object
in writing has been twofold. ' Get a good idea
of Zion ' says the writer who penned the 48th
Psalm, ' mark her towers, her houses, her bul-
warks, that ye may tell them that come after.'

How soon in a family do the generations
that come after forget ! A noble and useful life
passes away, and there are left a few memories,
possibly a picture, and a handful of letters ; but
as a rule the succeeding generations know little
of the bygone ancestor, whose life was full of
strength or sweetness, or shone with a light
that never failed through times of trial or suf-
fering. It is to keep such a memory alive in

282

LORD LILFORD

the family to which he belonged that I have
written this short record of my brother's life.

And for those outside, a revelation of patient
industry, pursued under conditions that might
well excuse indolence, always has its value, and
the example of a richly fruitful life acts almost
with the regularity of a law in stimulating others
to the production of a harvest of good and
conscientious work of which they had perhaps
considered themselves incapable.

INDEX

Abbe Armand David, Chinese
missionary and naturalist, 115

Adalbert's eagle, 115

Advice to young naturalist, 145

Albania, 66

Albinos and varieties, dislike of,
156

Algiers, 113, 114

Alpine accentors, 129
choughs, 267

America in 1769, 14-18

American feeling toward English
Parliament, 17, 18

Ampthill, Lady Holland's col-
lection of birds at, 109

Arnydrus tristrami, 221, 263

Aquila adalberti, 115
pennata, 68, 109

Aragon, 78

Argyll, late Duke of, verses on
Lord Lilford, xxi ; letters to,
S8-201

Armadillos in London lodgings,
50

Atherton, Mrs., 7

Audouin's gull, 106, 122

Auk, great, eggs, 146, 233, 276
little, 186, 188, 190

Austria, Crown Prince of, 115,
116, 123, 213

Avocet, 246

Badgers, 178 ; albino, 156
Barclay, Col. H., reminiscences,
45

Barge, fishing from, 138, 140, 152
Bat, Barbastelle, in Northamp-
tonshire, 180
killed by hawk, 101
long-eared, 97
noctule, 98
Bats called ' Here mice ' in Port-
land, 185
fruit, 253
Bear, brown, 127, 128, 208, 251,

252
Bedford, Duchess of, letters to,

195, 197, 198
Bird protection, ix, 119, 182, 189
Bird Protection Society, 181, 189
' Birds of Northamptonshire,'

202, 222
Bishop of London, Introduction

to memoir, v-xiv
Bittern, 247
little, 93
Black game in New Forest, 87
Blackbird, golden-winged, from

Bethlehem, 135, 221, 263
Blackcap, 116

Madeiran, 262
Spanish, 116
Bluethroats killed at Cley, 128
Booted eagle, 68, 109
Booth's collection of birds, 214
Bournemouth, 142, 158, 175, 211
Brambling, 109, 165
Breydon Water Protection So-
ciety, 196
' British Birds, Coloured Figures
of,' 139, 154, 162, 163, 168, 170

284

LORD LILFOllD

British Ornithologists' Union,
55, 88; elected president of,
78
Briinnich's guillemot, 191
Bullfinch, 220

desert, 209
Burton. E. A., 227
Bustards in Spain, 81, 274
Buzzard, rough-legged, 121, 171,
172
honey, in New Forest, 87
'humming,' 186
called ' kit ' in Cornwall, 64

Caccabis melanocephala, 185,

219
Cadiz, 65, 117
Calandra lark, cage bird in Spain,

65
Cambridge Museum, 146
Catholic Emancipation Bill,

Hon. Mary Fox hears debate

on, 33, 34
Chaffinch, Teydean, 187, 217, 263
Chamois in Acroceravmian
Mountains, 67
' Borgheetch ' in Albania, 71
in Italy, 69
Charles the Tenth, speech, 30
Chiff-chaff, 116, 168, 180
Choughs, Alpine, 267

Cornish, Ireland, 62 ; in a
wild state at Lilford, 198 ;
in aviaries, 268
Christ Church, Oxford, 47, 51
Clark, Miss, letter from .New

York in 1769, 30
Coldfinch, 109
Colins, Virginian, acclimatisation

of, 98, 103
Columba bollii, 209
Corfu, 56, 66
Coronella laevis, 215
Coruha, 65
Cosgrave, R., 75, 149, 151, 180,

239, 256

Crabbe, the poet, at Holland
House, 31

Crake, spotted, 66, 209

Cranes, 18", , 275, 276

Cream-coloured courser, 187

Crossbill, 152, 180; in North-
amptonshire, 209

Crow, grey, 165; depravity of,
197

Cuckoo, great spotted, in Anda-
lusia, 94

Cullingford, Mr., letters to, 155,
172

Cyprus, birds of, 209

Dartmouth. 90, 124

De Winton, W. E., 206, 280

Decoy for wildfowl at Lilford,

204, 212
Deer, Barbary, in Tunis, 200
Diver, Great Northern, occa-
sionally abundant at
Weymouth and San-
tander harbours, 186
red-throated, 207
' Don Quixote,' love for, 137
Doria, Marchese G., Museum of,

at Genoa, 104, 105, 106
Dormice, European, 254
Dove, Rock, 201

crested, nesting in aviaries,
265
Dresser, H. E., 123, 171

letter from, 234
Drewitt, F. D., letters to, 151-
199
recollections by, 235
Du Bocage, 117

Duck, golden-eye, 59, 121, 156,
223
marbled, 218, 270
pink-headed, 269
spinytailed, 201
tufted, 269
Dunlins, 113

INDKX

286

Eacle, Adalbert's, 115

booted, 68; nests in Anda-
lusia, 109
golden, 70 ; nesting in
aviary, 208, 211 ; in North-
amptonshire, 556
imperial, 70
serpent, 179, 180
short-toed, 70
spotted, 70
tawny, 244
white-bellied sea, 259
white-tailed, 62, 05, 70, 186,
244, 245, 245, 255
Eagle-owl, 49

Egg protection, 120, 188, 191
Egret, buff-backed, 270

Falcon, Barbarv, 153
Eleanora, 106, 108
Greenland, 242
Norwegian, 96
attacked by merlin, 128
Falconry, 117, 128, 165, 173,

199
Falcons, peregrine, at Oxford,
100; catching, 100, 161, 241 ;
killed by ravens, 251
Flamingoes, 213, 268
Flower, Sir W., 118
Foula, Island of, 271, 273
Fox, Hon. Mary E., mother of
Fourth Lord Lilford, 12 ;
journal at Holland House,
20
Hon. Caroline, 37
Charles James, speeches,
26
Francolins in Sicily, 106, 219
Fringilla spodiogenys, 115
Fulmar fed on cod-liver oil, 222

Gaick Forest, 52
Galium] e purple, 266

Gamekeepers, 149

Gatke'a ' Heligoland,' 217

Genoa, 104, 105

' Glowworm,' R.Y.S., 81, 90, 137

Goats, wild, 71

Goethe, third Lord Lilford's

meeting with, 10
Golden-eye ducks, 59, 121, 156,

223
Golden plover, 61
Goose, snow, 270
Goshawk, 241
Gould's ' British Birds ' lent for

village school, 150
Grackle, golden - winged, 135,

263
Grasshopper warbler, 143
Gray's Plates, 97
Great auk's eggs, 233, 276
Grebes, great crested, 196
Grey, Earl, speech on Catholic

Emancipation, 35
Grey hen in Northamptonshire,

193
Guillemard, Dr. H, 137, 207,

233
Guinea fowl, 114
Giinther, Dr. Albert, letters to,

96, 97, 203-224
Gypsies, interest in, 159

Hammer Kopf, 199
Hare, from Cyprus, 206

Lepus Lilfordi, 206, 280
Harrow, 44, 46
Harting, J. E., 151, 191
Hawfinch, nest at Lilford, 163
Hazel hens, 63
Hen harrier, 64
Heron, night, 146, 147, 194
Heronries at Bulwick and

Wytham, 58
Higginson, Hon. Lady, letters

to, 174, 175
Hobby, 95, 101, 119, 239, 240
Holland House. 13 33

286

LORD LILFORD

Holland, Lady, 13, 37, 44, 107,

173
Holland, Lord. 12, 22, 37 ; his

love of Spain, 76
Hoopoe, 14.3
Humboldt, 27
Hurricane of March 24, 1895, at

Lilford, 192

Ibex in Italy, 68, 69
Ibis, glossy, 266, 267
sacred, 266
scarlet, 266
' Ibis ' Magazine, foundation of,
69
letters to, 78
Irbv, Lieutenant-Colonel H..
letters to, 105, 108, 110, 156,
186, 193
Ixus obscurus, 116

Jay, blue, 264

Kennedy, Admiral, sends giant

tortoises, 195
Kestrel, 161
Kite, in Devon, 64
in Wales, 147
Kolguev, expedition to, 178, 233

Lacerta Simonyi, from the

Canaries, 168, 188
Lammergeyer, 95, 177; at
liberty, 246 ; stories of carry-
ing off children mythical, 258
Lanner, 96, 199, 242, 243, 244
Larus audouini, 106, 122
Leaf bird, 264
Lemur, ruffed, 177, 253
Lepus Lilfordi, named after Lord
Lilford, 206, 280
pallidior, 224
Lilford, Clementina, Lady, 236
Emma, Lady, 73, 74

Lilford, First Lord, 6
Second Lord, 8
Third Lord, diary of, 9

Lilford, Thomas Littleton,Fourth
Lord, birth, 40 ; at Harrow, 46 ;
at Oxford, 47-53 ; facility in
languages, 52-90 ; early love
for natural history, 58 ; with
militia, 62 ; at Coruna, 65 ;
in Sardinia, 66 ; love of birds
and dislike of indiscriminate
shooting, 67 ; first marriage,
73 ; succeeds to title, 75 ; visits
to Spain on R.Y.S. ' Zara,'
103; at Genoa, 105; Spezia.
106; Naples, 106 ; illness, 112 ;
Algiers, 113 ; on yacht at
Dartmouth, 90, 124; death
of Emma Lady Lilford, 74 ;
letters on natural history, 93
129 ; second marriage, 130 ;
life at Lilford Hall, 133 ; avia-
ries, 136, 241, 253; letters
chiefly on natural history, 14:;
224 ; hampered bv ill-health.
104, 112, 113, 175, 225; at
work on ' Coloured Figures of
British Birds,' 139, 154, 162,
163, 168, 170, and ' Birds of
Northamptonshire,' 202, 222 ;
dislike of the ' fatal mania ' for
collecting ' British killed ' birds,
144, 196 ; at Bournemouth,
148, 152, 156, 205,207, 211;
lammergeyers at liberty, 177,
246, 256 ; address as president
of Northamptonshire Natural
Historical Society, 249 ; inte-
rest in Society for Protection
of Birds, 181, 182 ; president
of British Ornithologists
Union. 78 ; his great liberalit v,
232, 234, 281 ; gives away four
great auk's eggs, 233 ; gives
fifty pounds a year for im-
provement of Soutli Kensing-
ton Natural Historj' Museum,

[NDEX

i's:

233 ; his courtesy and gentle-
ness, vi, 237 ; secret of success
as a field naturalist, 238 ; new
Spanish hare to be named
Lepus Lilfordi, 206, 280 ; birth
of a grandson, and his death in
1890, 230
Lilford, John, Fifth Lord, 74, 128
Lilford Hall, description of, 132
Lisbon, museum at, 117; wild-
fowl at, 192
Locusts, dried, food for birds,

219, 220
Lodge, G. E., Letters to, 153, 161
London, Bishop of. Introduction

to memoir, v-xiv
London, dislike of, 63, 72
Lowell, J. R., 89
Lynx, Spanish, 67, 71 ; haunts
of, 97-107

Magpie, Spanish azure-winged,
94 ; nesting in aviaries, 217

Mann, Sir Horace, 6

Marsh Harrier, 59

Martins, crag, 193

Meade-Waldo, E. G. B., 209, 215,
216

Mendizabel, M., 38

Merlin, 108, 109, 161

Mover's ' British Birds,' 150

Mice, Barbary, 218, 254

Militia, with, in Ireland, 62

Montagu's harrier, 143, 21'J

Moore, Mrs., letter from New
York in 1831, 18

Moose, 195

Moreau, 29

Moufflon, 68

Munich Hospital in 1827, 11

Musicampa albicollis, 109

Naples, 105

Natural History Museum,
South Kensington, annual con-
tribution to, 233

Newton, Professor Alfred, his
Introduction to Lord Lilford's
book on ' British Birds.' 54,
232,248; letters to, 56-72 ; at
Cambridge, 1 15

Night heron, 194 ; in Northamp-
tonshire, 146, 147

' Northamptonshire, Birds of,'
202, 222

Northamptonshire Natural His-
tory Society, 119, 212, 250

Nutcrackers, 153, 157, 268

Ortyx Virginianus (Virginian

quail), 98, 103
Osprey, on the Nene, 125; in

Switzerland, 179-180
Otters at Lilford, 179, 219, 221
Owl, barn, 261

brown, 61, 109

burrowing, nesting in

aviaries, 221
eagle, vermin shooting with

the aid of, 127-259
little, acclimatised and nest-
ing in Northampton-
shire, 218, 260
Nepaid, 259
scops, 59, 114, 124
snowy, 172, 217
trap, dislike of, 147
Ural, 259
Owls, then- usefulness, 147, 251 ;
women decorated with skins
of, 181 251
Oxford, strange pets in rooms at,

49
Oyster-catchers, 248, 265

Parroquet, orange-flanked, 135
Partridges, Barbary, titj

black-headed, 185, 219

Greek, 220

Hungarian, 223

red-legged, 61

288

LORD LTLFORD

Paras ultramarinus, 115
Pelican, crested, from Danube,
210

at Kew, 211
Pelicans on wing in London

parks, 215, 216, 275
Phalaropes, grey, a swarm of,

172, 186
Pheasant, common, 113

Reeves', 113, 115, 176
Picus martius, 171
Pigeon, Nicobar, 266
Pintail, 158
Plovers, ringed, two races of, 173

golden, 61
Portarlington, Lord, 43
Powys, Fadog, 1
Powys, Hon. and Rev. E. "V. R.,

letters to, on Spain, 82
Powys, Captain H., 7

Sir Littleton, 3

Mervyn, letters to, 142, 143,
152

Hon. Stephen, letter from,
90

Sir Thomas, 3, 4, 5

Hon. Thomas A., 230
Prairie dogs, 221
Puffin in London, 151

in Northamptonshire, 151

Radcliffe, E., 212

Raven nesting at Lilford, 181,
184, 190, 194, 250

Redshank, spotted, in North-
amptonshire, 156

Redwing, 165 ; albino, 185

Regent bird, 223

Regent's Park explosion, 108

Ring-ouzels, 211

Robins laying white eggs, 143

Rock thrush, blue, 122, 124,
129, 153, 228, 262

Powers (poet) at Holland House,
31,32

Rose-coloured pastor in North-
amptonshire, 157

Rothschild, Hon. W., 171
j Rudolf, Prince, 116, 123; his
book, 213

Ruffs and Reeves at Whittlesea,
60; colour of the raff, 217-
265

Russell, Lord John, at Holland
House, 24

St. James's Park Ornithological
Society, 210

St. James's Park, wild fowl in,
210

pelicans in, 215, 216
storks in, 216

Saker, 96, 126, 154, 199, 212

Sand grouse, 208, 219

Sanderson, Sir Percy, sends
crested pelicans, 211

Santander, 190

Saunders, H., 213

Savi's tomb at Pisa, 106

Schletter, Miss, letter to, 182

Sclater, Dr., 211

Scopus umbretta (Hammer
Kopf), 199

Scoters, 118, 158

Sea, love for, 81, 91, 101, 119,
124

Sebastiani, General, 31

Shag, 118, 158

Shama, 262

Shearwater, Manx, in North-
amptonshire, 119

Shelley, Captain, 117

Shovellers in the decoy, 212

Skuas, great, from Foula, 168,
271 273

Snakes, 111, 112, 126

Snipe, Jack, 108, 109, 156
double, 109

Soult, Marshal, Miss Fox's im-
pression of, 30

INDEX

289

ord's Handbook to, 82,
213
letter to his brother on, 82
letters to ' Ibis ' on, 78
love for, 77, 78, 80, 84, 85
visits to, 76, 80
Spezia, 106
Spoonbill, 196
Spotted crakes at Whittlesea,

60
Stark, Dr., 157, 158
Stockdove, 108

Stopford, Rev. F. M., remini-
scences, 58
Swallows, 118, 180 ; nest of, on

Eiffel Tower, 212
Swans, Bewick, on the Nene, 176
mute, 177

whooper, 176, 193 ; large
flock of, near Lilford, 201
Swiss birds, 179
Sylvia melanocephala, 116

Talleyrand, Eon. Mary Fox

meets, 31
Tennyson, late Lord, a walk

with, 87, 88
Tenrecs, 197, 222
Terns, black, 144
little, 118
sandwich, 118
Theatricals at Lilford, 89, 90
Thick-knee, Australian, 271
Thomas, Oldfield, letter from,

LuO

Thorburn, A., 139 ; letters to,

154-178
Tits, blue, 212

coal, 158, 207, 211
crested, 176, 180
from Canaries, 216
great, 212
Tortoise, giant, from Aldabra,
195, 199 ; death of, 199 ; pre-
sented to Cambridge museum,
200

Tri.ii of seven bishops, Sir
Thomas Powys's fairness in
conducting, 3

Tristram. Rev. Canon, letters to,
93, 128. 167, 177, 184, 188,
264; 'Great Sahara,' 94

Troupial, 135, 264

Tuck, Rev. J., 192

Tunis, 68, 201

Upcher, H., 122 ; letters to, 127

Vermin, birds of prey not, 161
' Virginia Gazette ' on England,

1769, 16
Virginian quails, acclimatisation

of, 98, 99, 103
Vole, bank, 307
Vultur cinereus, 70

monachus in Palestine, 95
Vulture, black, 95, 211, 257
Egyptian, 66, 70, 244
Griffon, 65, 70, 95, 111, 194,
244, 257

Wadenhoe, 4, 147
"Wagtail, grey, fishing, 202
Walsingham, Lord, letters to,

98, 119, 120, 121
Warner, Mr., letters to, 149
WTaxwin»s, 110, 112, 190
Webb, Godfrey, reminiscences,

48-53
Wellington. Duke of, speech on

Catholic Emancipation, Hon.

Mary Fox's account of, 34
Wheatear, arrival of, 168
Wildfowl, 110-148
William the Fourth, Third Lord

Lilford appointed Lord-in-

Waiting to, 12
Winchilsea, Lord, eloquence in

opposing Catholic Emancipa-
tion Dill, 35

U

290

LORD LILFORD

Winter of 1894-95, 190
"Woodcock carrying young, 108
Woodpecker, great black, 170,
171, 218

lesser spotted, 174, 279

three-toed, 204
Woodpigeon, Madeiran, 265

Yarkkll, William, 210
Tamil's ' British Birds,' 146. 150

' Zara,' R. Y. B., 81
Zoological Club, 96

Gardens, 126, 155
Zorilla, 224

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