Robert Patterson

“ As his labours became better known, correspondents in every province of Ireland sprang up, and information of the most varied character poured in upon him. This was sifted with exemplary care. Questions were asked, and if not answered with sufficient perspicuity, new interrogatories followed, until his own mind was perfectly satisfied as to the accuracy of the statement. It occasionally happened, that the communication related not to something in relation to the habits of a well-known species, but to the capture of a species which was either rare or known only as the denizen of other lands. ”

“ To the future explorer of the Natural History of Ireland, such evidence will be of the highest value. It will satisfy him that Thompson has furnished a true record of the Irish Birds, as known to him and his correspondents. From the basis thus established, he may proceed to rear his structure with perfect confidence that he builds on a good foundation, and that, if his own observations be correct, and embrace a sufficiently wide range, he may contrast the then existing Birds of Ireland with the species which now belong to it. ”

“ What wonder, then, that an annual visit to London should be one of Mr. Thompson's greatest pleasures ! There he mingled with that variety of intellectual fellowship which the great metropolis alone can afford. There he not unfrequently had difficulties removed and doubts cleared up, such as every Naturalist who critically examines species has at times experienced. To London he brought for comparison, specimens which seemed to him ill-defined, and which could not be satisfactorily determined, except by reference to books and spe- cimens which were not accessible in a provincial town. ”

“ The first mournful reflections over on visiting such a tomb, do we not feel the bodily and intellectual pulse beat quicker, and urge us on to the best work of which we feel ourselves capable, before we are hidden beneath the flag-stone. ”

“ With spring came a visit to London — then a sojourn with the family at the sea-side — in the autumn a little tour with some friend — an attendance on the meeting of the British Association for Science, or an excursion to shooting quarters in Scotland. The month of November found him settled once more at home, and resuming the daily routine of occupation already mentioned. Throughout life he took pleasure in field sports ”

“ Finally, to contrast the scenery of the Rhine and the Rhone, in vine- covered hills they are alike— the rivers are much on a par— the Rhine rather the grander— the Rhone more varied by the hills coming forward and again receding or folding in the most romantic manner back and forward. No verdure from grass or pasture is to be seen on the Rhone banks, the more Southern character of the vegetation being from ferns springing from a sterile soil. The Rhine has its numerous castles, but against these are the snow-clad mountains seen from the Rhone. ”

“ Fifteen years of the most active period of man's existence had passed by, and had cast their mellowing influence both on his feelings and on his intellect. He had lived during that time among the intelligent inhabitants of his native town, and among the literary and scientific circles of Metropolitan Societies. His reading had not been restricted to Natural Science, but had embraced biography, history, travels, poetry, and the fine arts. The journal in every page indicates his more mature and cultivated intellect ”

“ He planted many various species at the family place in the country, and, had he ever gone there to reside permanently, would have beautified it much by his taste in this department of rural pursuits.
Up to the years 1830 and 1831, his taste for Natural History was more that of an amateur than a scientific naturalist, and he had every intention of pursuing the business to which he had been brought up ; but in these years circumstances of a domestic nature occurred which had the effect of altogether changing his intentions with regard to business, and in fact to make him give it up entirely. ”

“ In 1821 he was apprenticed to a highly respectable firm in the linen business, the staple trade of the North of Ireland. The senior partner of that firm, himself a keen sportsman, has survived the subject of the present memoir, and is not unfrequently referred to in the volumes on " The Birds of Ire- land," as an authority on their habits.
A gentleman who was then in the same counting-house, and is now a merchant resident in Belfast, has kindly communicated some particulars respecting Mr. Thompson's habits and tastes at this period of his life. ”

“ At the time above alluded to I had commenced forming a collection of stuffed birds, and an old edition of ' Bewick's British Birds,' which was lent me by Dr. Drummond,, was at the time in my office drawer, and at all leisure moments in constant use both for study and reference ; it was therefore a very natural consequence that W. T., who was my sporting companion, should take some interest in the pursuit he saw me attending to with considerable ardour, and when the spoils of the day were brought home he began to be interested in identifying the species acquired ”

“ In many respects is it of high importance that the mortal remains of the workman should thus as it were go hand in hand with his noblest work. Thus are the mortality and immortality of earth a striking lesson ! ”

“ Thompson was engaged for more than twenty years of his life were not those which were obvious and external.To many a toiling mortal in his native town, he must have appeared to be one of those favoured individuals who have nothing to do. Yet few were more industrious, or more persevering in the execution of his self-appointed task. Every hour in the day had its allotted duty. ”

“ It was a natural result, that he would soon be able to detect species which science had not yet named or described, and others well known but unrecorded as Irish. Having satisfied himself of the accuracy of the facts, the next step was to impart a knowledge of them to his brother naturalists, by communications to different Societies and to scientific periodicals. He first came forward in this way in 1833, by submitting to the Zoological Society of London some notes on the Sterna arctica, and other birds observed in Ireland. ”

“ On his arrival in Belfast, Captain Graves kindly invited Mr. Thompson to join the party, and succeeded in inducing him to do so, as a most welcome guest.
In consequence of these arrangements, Mr. Thompson and Mr. Forbes left London together on the 2nd of April, 1841, and proceeded by Paris and Marseilles to Malta, where the Beacon then was. On the 21st of April they embarked, reached Navarino on the 28th, and anchored at Syra on 6th of May. Leaving the vessel there. Captain Graves and Mr. Thompson, on the 11th of May, embarked in the French steamer Sesostris, for Smyrna and Constantinople. ”

“ It is brief for another reason: his letters do not in general contain those outpourings of thought or sentiment, those revelations of the inner man, which to reflective minds are even more interesting than the open and noon-day occurrences of the outward life. ”

“ It enumerates twenty- three species, seen under those circumstances, and is valuable because of the critical knowledge and accuracy of the observer, and its bearing on a question of popular interest, which cannot be better stated than in the words Mr. Thoiupson has himself employed. "Persons even of education," says he, " still exist who are incredulous respecting the fact that many species which in summer frequent the British Islands, winter south of the Mediterranean, and cross that sea annually on their northern migration in the spring ”

“ Thompson was engaged preparing this work for the press, that he became interested in the welfare of " The Belfast-Man" — Francis Davis — author of "Poems and Songs," published in Belfast, in 1847. They were composed, as the preface informs us. " amid the monotonous din of the work-shop," the vocation in which Mr.Davis was then engaged being that of a muslin weaver, " an employment not very remarkable for its remunerative qualities." He now fills the responsible situation of Librarian and Secretary to the Working Classes' Association at Belfast ”

“ Thompson's friends and correspondents, afforded him much pleasure. He valued very highly the good ojiinion of those he really esteemed. The volumes contained a large amount of popular matter relative to the instincts, habits, and economy of our native birds, to which they were exclusively devoted ; and among these were occasionally interspersed graphic descriptions of localities or of picturesque groups, such as Horn Head, County Donegal, vol. ”