Natural History. 19 



thickets of sallow, willow, birch, and sweet-gale, which before 

 the dawn of history had usurped the place of oak, Scotch fir, 

 and yew. The whole of this vast level was a paradise for wild 

 creatures, beast, bird, and fish, and predominate over all, upon 

 the peat-stained waters of the shallow lagoons floated primitive 

 man in a canoe dug out from a single tree, and using weapons 

 tipped with fractured flint or fish-bone. 



Of the natural treasures of the old fenland we have but 

 scant record. Unfortunately our forefathers, when they did 

 write, cared little for depicting their natural every-day 

 surroundings, yet we must be thankful for the few precious 

 records which have come 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 Ellensis ; the Chronicles of 

 Crowland ; and the writings of William of Malmsbury (1200); 

 Thomas Fuller j 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-archaeology, 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 - 2s. 



Then there is a letter from the great Dr. Johnson, dated 

 January gth, 1758, to his friend, Bennet Langton of Langton, 

 acknowledging 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 29th, 1886, containing personal recollections of 

 Lincolnshire ornithology, also his communication made to the 



