Address to the L.N.U. 137 
down to us of those olden times, and enable us to form some idea 
of the extreme richness of the Fen fauna and flora, from the Liber 
Eliensis; the Chronicles of Crowland; and the writings of 
William of Malmsbury (1200); Thomas Fuller; Camden’s 
Britannia (Gough's edition) ; and the naturalists Pennant, Ray, 
~ and Colonel Montagu; also the quaint verses left by Michael 
Drayton in the Polyolbion; and by “ Antiquary Hall,” of Llyn 
in the doggerel rhymes depicting a fenman’s daily life. 
One aim of our Society should be the collection of any scrap, 
oral or written, in connection with physical-archeology, and any 
who have opportunities of inspecting old deeds, letters, and 
. family account books, will do good service by extracting any 
small matter which directly or indirectly bears on this subject. 
Such entries were, no doubt, considered most trivial by the 
original writers, but in the light of the present day they are of 
much interest and importance. To cite one or two instances 
alone, how little historical record is left of the Great Bustard in 
Lincolnshire. ‘The late Sir Charles Anderson, of Lea, in 1874, 
sent me extracts from an old account book kept by Charles 
Anderson, at Broughton, near Brigg, from 1669 to 1673 :— 
“1670, September 26—To John Hall, brought curlew - Is. 
October 23—Item to Thos. Beckett for killing 
two bustards - - - - - - - 23. 
Then there is a letter from the great Dr. Johnson, dated January 
oth, 1758, to his friend, Bennett Langton of Langton, acknowledg- 
ing the receiving a parcel of game, amongst other things a 
-bustard which he gave to Dr. Lawrence. 
A letter written to myself by the Rev. Edward Elmhirst, 
November 2gth, 1886, containing personal recollections of 
Lincolnshire ornithology, also his communication made to the 
Field newspaper, November 28th, 1886, concerning the former 
nesting of the Hen Harriers in the moors near Market Rasen, are 
‘amongst the most valuable contributions to the records of county 
” 
natural history in recent years. 
Of infinite interest also, as throwing light on the past, would 
be the account books and records of captures made in the duck - 
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