210 Memoir of the Rev. John Frederic Bigge. 



forgot the "gentleman" and "friend" in the "superior." It 

 was during his incumbency of Ovingham, that the now verj' 

 successful "Tjmesicle Naturalists' Field Club" was established, 

 in the formation of which Mr Bigge, in conjunction with the 

 late Mr Ealph Carr-Ellison, Mr Hancock of Newcastle, and 

 others, was a prime mover : the first field meeting of the Society 

 being held at Ovingham. 



It is a very true saying, that there are "Eyes" and "No 

 Eyes ;" one man will go through the country day by day, and 

 recognise nothing at all of the mighty wonders and beaiitics 

 of nature ; whilst to another not a foot of ground that he treads 

 will be without interest, either in the discovery of new, or the 

 recognition of already well-known objects, in the various 

 departments of Natural History. Mr Bigge was essentially 

 one of the latter kind : his mind was stored with facts of natural 

 history, especially those relating to his native county. He had an 

 intense love of flowers. Even in his last hours, after his paralytic 

 seizure, when his brain was wavering at the approach of death, 

 the sight of a few flowers offered to him, the familiar loved 

 objects, recalled the scattered senses ; and touching them caress- 

 ingly, he muttered "Pretty flowers!" 



Mr Bigge was very early a member of the "Natural History 

 Society" of Newcastle-on-Tyne ; and as a Vice-President and 

 inember of the Council, was one of those who officially received 

 the Prince and Princess of Wales at the Royal ceremony of 

 opening the New Museum at the Barras Bridge in 1884. He 

 became a member of the "Berwickshire Naturalists' Club" in 

 1864, and often regretted that he had not joined it sooner: for 

 after his election he took a special interest in its proceedings, and 

 was a constant attender of the meetings, which he thoroughly 

 enjoyed. They were, indeed, one of the few things for which, 

 latterly, he was disposed to leave home : and he was, I believe, 

 mainly instrumental in getting the range of the excursions 

 extended beyond the original limits. He was President of the 

 Club for 1875 : and his address appears in vol. vii. of the "Pro- 

 ceedings," to which he was a frequent contributor. He was an 

 enthusiastic fisher: could it be otherwise, born, as he was, on the 

 banks of the classic Coquet,beloved by every handler of the "gad," 

 the theme of many an angler's song ! Many a fishing story he 

 had to recount of happy days on loch and stream, in company 

 with his Durham friends the Rev. John Cundill, the Rev. William 



