Alfred Newton partridge. Birds became an abiding interest. Those included the great bustard ("Otis tarda"), Montagu's harrier ("Circus pygargus"), ravens, buzzards ("Buteo" sp.), redpolls, wrynecks ("Jynx"), which are small woodpeckers that specialise in feeding on ants. "The vast warrens of the 'Breck', the woods and water-meadows of the valley of the Little Ouse, and the neighbouring Fenland made an ideal training-ground for a naturalist". This enthusiasm Newton shared with his younger brother Edward: the two carried out bird observation when they were together and corresponded when they were apart. In 1846 Newton went to a tutor in Biggleswade for a few months,
Otis Spofford Otis Spofford Otis Spofford is a 1953 children's novel by Beverly Cleary. The story revolves around the antics of the title character, a precocious fourth-grader with a knack for getting into trouble. Otis lives with his mother, who is often absent from the household due to teaching classes at her dance school, and therefore Otis is required to entertain himself, by "stirring up a little excitement". His trademarks are his glow-in-the-dark shoelaces (one pink, one green), the rabbit's foot he keeps attached to his jacket zipper, and his particular fondness for irritating his classmate Ellen Tebbits although he never understands