1 26 Lincolnshire Notes & Queries, 



But the point to notice is that what we did not find out we 

 missed for good, first, because we did not picture before our 

 minds the connecting link and work till it was discovered; and 

 secondly, we did not make any accurate notes at the time for 

 future study. The droppings of birds were on the low firm 

 railings which kept the horses and cattle from the water, while 

 the sheep could pass under and drink their fill ; but we idly 

 tapped them into the water, regardless of the undigested seeds 

 they contained, as we watched the newts and kept a pair of 

 wood pigeons from their evening drink or bath. We never 

 made a note of what was growing round the pond to see if it 

 differed from the surrounding herbage, though we noted how 

 frequently the birds left droppings after drinking. The 

 stupidity of these lost opportunities, how vexed they make a 

 naturalist in his future work! Sidbury Hill stands on or just 

 beyond the family property of the late Sir John Astley, of 

 sporting fame, and this suggests an incident of observation 

 which only required an accurate note to have made it of value. 

 Late one day Sir John shot a wood pigeon at Elsham, in 

 Lincolnshire, with such a distended crop that he could not help 

 noticing it. Opening it, he found it not only remarkably full, 

 but was also struck by the number of the species of seeds. 

 These were sown in a flower-pot of the largest size and placed 

 in the forcing-house. A full and varied crop of the weeds of 

 our stubbles was the reward of his care, but no botanist was 

 called in to name the species and work out their numerical 

 relation, and so the value of the experiment was lost for want 

 of an accurate note. 



Note-making is the simplest thing in the world, far simpler 

 than finding material worthy of permanent record, as every 

 hard-working field naturalist knows to his cost. What days 

 and weeks have we all spent fruitlessly on the look-out for 

 something new, when it was only our own stupidity which 

 prevented us seeing what was just under our noses! Though 

 we knew water plants have a wider distribution than land 

 plants, we had to visit a deep unfrozen spring twenty times in 

 the great frost of 1895 before the bright green foliage struck 

 our mind's eye, and it flashed into our vacant organ that the 

 deep warm springs in the north, and by contrast the deep cool 

 springs of the south, could keep an uniform temperature in a 

 limited area and preserve a flora and its attendant life, which 

 would become a centre of distribution should the climate 

 change to greater warmth or cold. We must brighten and 



