Rev. Francis Orpen Morris, (1810-1893, Naturalist, Wrote against Darwinism, Anti-vivisectionist).

"His reverence could no more see the gland of a duck through his down, than I could see his own heart through the folds of his cassock".

The following extracts are from correspondence to an unnamed correspondent:

The first concerning his "Handbook on the subject of the destruction of small and other birds, & have before me a letter of yours to the ‘Times’ on the subject of Mr WATERTON’s place", (Charles, 1782-1865, Naturalist), "could you tell me any more particulars as to the co-existence of game & the other birds. I had, I am sorry to say, an ornithological dispute with Mr Waterton some years ago, or I would have written to him myself ." (Nunburnholme Rectory, Heyton, York, 13th January 1864)

The second thanks him for his letter and again asks him to "obtain some information from Mr Waterton, not mentioning my name, if game and the birds usually destroyed by Gamekeepers, ever coexist - this was what I intended to express in my last, and am sorry that I was not sufficiently clear. Many thanks for the pamphlet on the Barn Owls . I could circulate some more, to advantage, I hope, if you had any to spare." (Nunburnholme Rectory, Heyton, York, 25th January 1864)

Waterton was considered very eccentric by his naturalist colleagues, and gained many enemies with the articles that he published in the pages of Loudon’s magazine which he used as the stage for his battles with those naturalists he considered to be fools, liars or innocents. Following Professor Rennie calling him "the eccentric Waterton" he described him as "erroneous" but excused Rennie’s "errors on the grounds that Rennie 'has spent more of his time in books than in bogs'.

Although his criticisms were usually correct he did enjoy pointing out mistakes with blunt rudeness - "His reverence could no more see the gland of a duck through his down, than I could see his own heart through the folds of his cassock". His enemies increased and answered him in kind. The last round of the battles appeared in Loudon’s in 1836, when Waterton was accused of being not only an eccentric self-indulgent Catholic aristocrat, but also a liar.

The Revd F. O. Morris had the last word, "Let me only add that, while you were wandering in South America , I was acquiring an experimental knowledge in England on its native birds which you will never possess". It seems that even thirty years later Morris could not ask him a question directly, although he had still the need to obtain information from his enemy.

Extract from the description of two letters offered for sale by a bookseller:
Clive Farahar & Sophie Dupre (abebooks.com), 7 Jan 2006.