Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/407

Rh and inanimate, was much increased by the wild grandeur of the scenes which he traversed, and by the novelty of many of the feathered and four-footed tribes that inhabit them. He ultimately determined, however, to limit his researches and his specimens to British Birds and British Zoology generally, thinking that every collection ought to be as complete as possible of its kind, and being desirous that his own should be the result of his practical studies in the wide field of nature. It was thus that he formed that very extensive and beautiful collection of birds for which he was celebrated, and which after his death was disposed of to the Trustees of the British Museum for, I believe, £3000.' At the same time he was gradually collecting materials for two most valuable works, the 'Ornithological Dictionary,' 2 vols. 8vo, published in 1802, and the 'Testacea Britannica,' 4to, in 1803.

"After Colonel Montagu had resided for some time with his family at Alderton House, in the parish of Hullavington, he was induced, by the additional income which he derived from the death of his brother James (who died unmarried), to resign his commission in the Wiltshire Militia, that he might be enabled to devote himself entirely to his favourite pursuits. He then took up his abode at Knowle, near Kingsbridge, in the county of Devon, which, being at no great distance from the sea, gave him ample opportunities for following out his researches in the natural history of the marine molluscs. Here he continued to reside (with occasional visits to the family seat at Lackham) up to the time of his death.

"After many other trials, in June, 1815, the Colonel had the misfortune to tread upon a rusty nail, which pierced his foot and produced a wound; lock-jaw was the result, and this terminated his life at Knowle on the 20th of the same month, in the sixty-first year of his age. He bore his sufferings (which, though of short duration, were extremely severe) not only with the equanimity of a philosopher, but with the fortitude and resignation of a real Christian. His old and attached friend, the Rev. K. Vaughan, of Modbury [Aveton Gifford.—E.E.], who was at his bedside during his last illness, having asked him where he would wish to be buried, his characteristic reply was, 'Where the tree falls there let it lie.' He had always a great aversion to anything like pomp and parade in the ordinary routine of life, and especially in the performance of the last solemn rites. His remains were therefore interred in an unostentatious manner, agreeably to his own request, in the churchyard of the parish in which he breathed his last."

The following are his principal works:—'The Sportsman's Dictionary; or, a Treatise on Gunpowder and Fire Arms, &c.' London, 1792; reprinted in 1803, 8vo.'An Ornithological Dictionary; or, Alphabetical Synopsis of British Birds,' 1 vol. 8vo, 1802.'Testacea Britannica; or, Natural