MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR xxxi 



came the old mister." Thereafter, a queen wasp 

 was always known as " the old mister." 



Though Mr. Foster-Melliar is chiefly known be- 

 cause of his work " The Book of the Eose " (one 

 admirer has kindly called it "the classic work on 

 Boses"), roses were by no means his first or only 

 love. His first love was natural history, and his 

 greatest love was shooting. A very early letter of 

 his, when about eight years old, says : — " My dear 

 Mama, I thank you for your kind note. But I wish 

 you were come back again, as I have got a golden- 

 crested wren's nest with eight eggs in it to show you 

 when you do." And nearly every letter, whether 

 from Streatham, Uppingham or Oxford, contains 

 some reference to birds, beasts, insects or flowers. 

 His knowledge of natural history has been described 

 as " first-class." However that may be, the writer 

 remembers well how greatly he was impressed — on a 

 strange rare bird being taken to him to identify — by 

 his saying at once and without the least hesita- 

 tion, " Oh, that's Oedicnemus crepitans " (the Stone 

 Curlew) . Shortly before he died, the Town Council 

 of Ipswich had elected him as a member of the 

 Committee of the Ipswich Museum. 



His delicacy as a boy often prevented him from 

 the bird-nesting expeditions that he loved, but 

 he quite outgrew his weakness, and was a great 

 cricketer in his young days. He used to play regu- 

 larly for the Uppingham Eovers, and was at one 

 time Captain of the Suffolk County eleven. His 

 round-arm bowling (then a new-fangled idea) was 

 apt to be deadly, while his batting was distinguished 

 by hard-hitting. The scene of many of his triumphs 

 was on the pretty little ground at Stowmarket, and 



