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OBITUARY. 



THE LATE FRANK NORGATE. 



By the death at the age of 75, on February 20th, 1919, of 

 Frank Norgate, of Sparham, son of the late Canon Norgate, 

 rector of Sparham, Norfolk has lost one of its most pains- 

 taking and accomplished field-naturalists. Mr. John Henry 

 Gumey, with whom he frequenth^ corresponded, describes 

 him as "an extraordinarily acute and accurate observer " ; 

 who " was very much crippled with asthma, which hung to 

 him all his life, on account of which he would spend whole 

 days, and sometimes nights, too, out of doors." This, in a 

 letter, Norgate confirmed, with some lucidity, as recently as 

 November 27th, 1918. 



He WTites : "I [am] sorry about the felling of my happy 

 hunting ground — Foxley Wood [by the military] where, 

 when I was trying to sleep on the ground one night, three 

 foxes kept racing round and round me barking." 



Norgate 's activities carried him into various branches of 

 natural science : birds' eggs, lepidoptera, botany, and espe- 

 ciall}^ ornithology receiving his careful attention. His 

 collection of eggs was a considerable one, and has been 

 described " as second to none " ; it contained Cuckoo's eggs 

 from the nests of no less than thirty species of birds. In a note 

 to Mr. Gumey he states that " I have found time to soak your 

 Kite's egg to pieces, and have restored it, as well as I can from 

 the inside, with shellac and tissue paper." This egg is noted 

 by him as " Norfolk, about 1825. Given by Edward Lombe 

 of Melton to John Henry Gurney." From some letters lent 

 me by Mr. Gurney, Norgate seems to have somewhat merci- 

 lessly robbed desirable nests, and being unable to climb, 

 taught the Brandon boys to assist him, more especially in his 

 quest of Crossbill's eggs. 



Nevertheless, it is refreshing to know that his great experi- 

 ence was used in 1873, when he gave evidence before the 

 Select Committee on Wild Bird Protection, whereat he told 

 a story of a gamekeeper who always destroyed Nightingale's 

 nests, for fear the birds should keep his Pheasants awake at 

 night ! He rendered valuable assistance to Dr. Hind when 

 compiling the Flora of Suffolk, and besides being the first to 

 record the nesting of Crossbills on the Norfolk and Suffolk 

 borders, he also was one among the first to capture and record 

 the oleander moth. Flint implements and folk-lore also 

 claimed his attentions. 



