102
THE ESSEX NATURALIST.
would be continued in their strolls about the Botanic Gardens,
Regents Park, often with unexpected success.
My uncle's love of good English made him playfully critical
of us if we used careless or slang expressions. His memory
was unusually retentive and he entered on the study of a new
language with zest. I remember one of us asking him if he
knew the last eloquent passage in Tacitus' "Life of Agricola"
on death and a future life, quoting the first words; he continued
the quotation with perfect fluency, although he had probably
not read the passage for many years.
Even after he became an invalid he would occasionally talk
to us of the old days, describing his experiments and the diffi-
culties he had contended with in a way that proved how vivid
his remembrance was of the past. Life became very restricted,
but he was always touchingly interested in the doings of the
family: "I am hungry for news," he would write if the usual
letters had been delayed.
Of the portraits of Lord Lister which accompany this article none,
with the single exception of the latest silhouette, has been published
heretofore.
NOTES ON THE OCCURRENCE OF SOME
UNCOMMON ESSEX BIRDS.
By JAMES W. CAMPBELL, M.B.O.U.
Peregrine Falcon (Falco p. peregrinus) and Common Buzzard
(Buteo b. buteo).
On 3 December, 1932, I saw a Peregrine Falcon and a
Common Buzzard at Layer Marney. A good view of the
Peregrine was obtained, which was an adult female. Whilst
watching her disappear behind some tall elms another larger
bird came into sight, which settled in one of the elms. By
stalking down a hedge I had another excellent view, this bird
proving to be an unusually dark Common Buzzard. The
Peregrine was seen subsequently in the neighbourhood for
several days, while a Buzzard remained in the district till the
beginning of March, 1933.
The Common Buzzard is recorded rather irregularily in Essex,
but the Peregrine occurs annually in this district during winter.