Page:Nests and eggs of Australian birds 1901.djvu/16

 manner Mr. Gould was always somewhat brusque, but those who were intimate with him were aware that under a rough exterior he concealed a very kind heart." Another friend who knew him well, wrote: "He had a really tender and affectionate heart, hidden though it was beneath a highly sensitive reserve, which never permitted him the relief of expression. The deaths of his loving wife and two promising boys affected him in a way hardly known outside his family circle." Another person who used to work for him said Gould was "an extraordinary man; blunt, and somewhat of a gruff nature; had great perseverance, and was always at his work, which amounted to a passion, or to which he appeared a willing martyr." We are not told what Gould's religious temperament was, although he was styled "a true Priest of Nature."

As a born ornithologist, Gould had few, if any, compeers, and no one had a better "eye" for specific differences. As an author he was also a giant, having published between 1829 and 1880 (the year of his death) eighteen great illustrated folio works, besides no less than 302 separate papers and articles contributed to various learned societies, &c. The magnitude of his folio works may be understood by the 3,000 odd coloured plates they contained (all birds except 227, which figured in his "Family of Kangaroos" and the "Mammals of Australia"), and on account of which he has sometimes been called the "Pictorial Ornithologist." He himself loved to be called just plain "John Gould, the Bird Man."

Such was the man whom Australian ornithologists all but worship.

Little seems to be known of the early history of John Gilbert. He was apparently a taxidermist in the employment of Gould, who sent him as collector to Western Australia, August, 1840- He retained to England with his trophies, September, 1841.

The ensuing spring Gilbert again visited Western Australia, and afterwards Northern Territory at Port Essington. Subsequently he was attached to Dr. Leichhardt's Exploring Expedition from Brisbane to Port Essington, October, 1844, meeting his fate at the hands of treacherous natives, 28th June, 1845. The details of his tragic end I have given under the heading of the Black-backed Tree Creeper (see Observations). It appeared to me to be the most fitting place to recall the sad circumstances, as that bird was probably the last he ever shot.

Touching poor Gilbert's melancholy end, Gould pathetically wrote: "I lost a most able coadjutor, and science has to deplore one of its most devoted servants." What a tribute of praise from a master!

Ladies, by intuition, are generally good judges of character.