11 



fair world, brought about directly or indirectly by the ignorance, 



avarice, and greed of civilised man, assisted in late years by that 

 rage for wearing feathers that now and again seizes civilised 

 women. 



Much might be accomplished if we could give our people an 

 intelligent knowledge of their natural surroundings and an inter- 

 est in their preservation. It would be a step in the right 

 direction if object lessons were occasionally given in our village 

 schools in connection with Natural History, illustrated from 

 those easily accesssible raw materials of observation in the 

 neighbourhood, which would best illustrate the every-day life of 

 plants and animals. 



I fear there is no class of men, who, considering the very 

 favourable opportunities they have, are so proverbially ig- 

 norant of the economy of outdoor life as the gamekeepers, and 

 so systematically destroy what it is often their best interest to 

 preserve. Agriculturists, too, as a class, with but few exceptions, 

 are deplorably indifferent to, and ignorant of, the most elemen- 

 tary principles of Natural Science. They care for none of these 

 things. In looking back, however, I am proud to admit many 

 genuine services rendered by agricultural labourers, who have 

 walked miles to bring some curious object, or to tell of some 

 strange beast or bird seen during their daily toil. 



Unfortunately, in England, the inculcation of scientific know- 

 ledge is left almost entirely to private enterprise and in the hands 

 of such societies as ours. This is not the case in foreign states, 

 and notably so in America, where neither pains nor expense are 

 spared in instructing the people. I have now before me a vol- 

 ume, most beautifully illustrated, recently published and issued 

 by the American Government Department of Agriculture, on 

 " The Hawks and Owls of the United States." This book has 

 been scattered wholesale, as a free gift, over the land, and is in- 

 tended to teach the American farmer the great usefulness of 

 birds of prey, and the good which, as a rule, they confer upon 

 him. Surely we have had object lessons sufficient to bring this 

 matter forcibly home to us in that plague of field voles which 

 has laid waste some of the great sheep farms beyond the border, 

 and the plague of rats in Lincolnshire. 



It is hoped that in time we shall get a museum in Lincoln. The 

 want of this has been the the cause of our losing many art treas- 



