fe the government
appointment of Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, and so being enabled to
devote himself wholly to his favorite pursuits. In this position he was
unwearied in his efforts to develop pisciculture, and to improve the
apparatus used by the fishermen, interesting himself also in the
condition of themselves and their families.

He was always writing. He was a very frequent contributor to The Field
from its foundation in 1856, and subsequently to Land and Water, a
periodical which he started in 1866, and to other periodicals. He
published a number of volumes, made up in great part from his
contributions to periodicals, most of them of a popular character and
full of interesting information. Among those which are best known are
the 'Curiosities of Natural History' (1857-72); the 'Log-Book of a
Fisherman and Geologist' (1875); a 'Natural History of British Fishes'
(1881); and 'Notes and Jottings from Animal Life,' which was not issued
until 1882, though the material was selected by himself.

Buckland was of a jovial disposition, and always sure to see the
humorous side of the facts which were presented to him; and in his
social life he was extremely unconventional, and inclined to merry
pranks. His books are as delightful as was their writer. They are
records of accurate, useful, eye-opening details as to fauna, all the
world over. They are written with a brisk, sincere informality that
suggest the lively talker rather than the writer. He takes us a-walking
in green lanes and woods, and a-wading in brooks and still pools--not
drawing us into a class-room or a study. He enters into the heart and
life of creatures, and shows us how we should do the same. A lively
humor is in all his popular pages. He instructs while smiling; and he is
a savant while a light-hearted friend. Few English naturalists are as
genial--not even White of Selborne--and few as wide in didactics. To
know him is a profit indeed; but just as surely a pleasure.

A HUNT IN A HORSE-POND

From 'Curiosities of Natural History'

Well, let us have a look at the pond-world; choose a dry place at the
side, and fix our eyes steadily upon the dirty water: what shall we see?
Nothing at first; but wait a minute or two: a little round black knob
appears in the middle; gradually it rises higher and higher, till at
last you can make out a frog's head, with his great eyes staring hard at
you, like the eyes of the frog in the woodcut facing AEsop's fable