4 LIFE OF TEGETMEIER 



alterations appear to have been made in it of 

 recent years, that it is quite probable that 

 Dr. Tegetmeier's house still stands where it did 

 when our subject was born. Making a pious 

 pilgrimage to Colnbrook a few years ago, I sent 

 the old man a picture postcard of his natal 

 village, and on my next visit to him, he told me 

 he recognized the view of the High Street. He 

 then drew me a rough plan showing the position 

 of the house where he was born, of a water-mill 

 and of a farmhouse on an islet opposite, " where 

 I used to stay," he wrote on it. Although he 

 did not tell me so expressly, it is easy to suppose 

 that it was while staying at this farm and 

 wandering in the fields or by the margin of the 

 river Colne, and the looped mill-stream, that 

 young Tegetmeier acquired that love of birds, 

 beasts, and fishes that clung to him through life. 

 So vividly impressed on his memory was the 

 scene of his early boyhood, that he not only 

 sketched the " Map of Colnbrook " here repro- 

 duced, but he could recall the name of the 

 occupier of the mill when he was a child. As 

 this map was drawn in the year 1908, i.e. in 

 Tegetmeier's ninety-second year, it gives some 

 idea of his vigour, alertness, and memory at that 

 advanced age. 



As a lad Tegetmeier showed something more 

 than the ordinary boy's fondness for exploring 

 hedgerows, investigating ditches, and harrying 



