"'[3] He was always a keen sportsman and an accurate observer of nature, and during his long life he acquired an experience in matters of sport and natural history that was quite exceptional, for the summer quarters were changed almost every year, and the list of places rented by him embraces nearly every district of Scotland, so that his opportunities for observation were especially favourable.
In 1840, he embodied his experiences in The Moor and the Loch, which speedily took a high rank among books on Scotch sport.
In 1851, the third edition was published, and the fourth, which was not issued until 1878, contained many additions, notably the most valuable portions of some other books he had written in the meantime, Rocks and Rivers, 1849 ; Salmon Casts and Stray Shots, 1858; and Sporting Days, 1866.
[2] Besides these works he wrote two lectures, "On the Feræ Naturæ of the British Islands,' and 'On Instinct and Reason,' which were published in 1873 and 1874 respectively.
His daughter Lucy Bethia Walford, became a well-known Victorian novelist, while F. Mary Colquhoun became a poet and writer.