GUESTS AT ELVEDEN 5 



to a great extent from the more active pursuits of his 

 elder brothers, he came to rely more for companionship 

 upon his younger brother, Edward. The affection — ^it 

 might almost be called devotion — ^that Alfred and Edward . 

 had for each other was much more than is commonly 

 seen between brothers, and it lasted unchanged until the 

 death of the younger brother ten years before that of the 

 elder. Edward's tastes were in many ways the same as 

 those of Alfred, but though he was strong and active, he 

 would do nothing that Alfred could not do, and it is said 

 that as a child he wished that he might be lame too, so 

 that they might, so to speak, "start fair." The two 

 boys did everything together and were almost insepa- 

 able ; the collection of birds and eggs was " ours," their 

 dogs were the joint property of both, and their records 

 of observations were kept in notebooks labelled " A. and 

 E. N." 



But it must not be supposed that he was debarred by 

 his lameness from out-of-door amusements : he rode, 

 and as a shot he was not much inferior to his brother 

 Edward, who became afterwards one of the finest shots 

 in England. Mr. Newton used to entertain many of his 

 neighbours during the shooting season — ^the Newcomes 

 from Feltwell, Lord March, George Hanbury, the 

 Waddingtons from Cavenham, were frequent guests at 

 Elveden. Another visitor was a " Mr. Bainbridge, a 

 friend- of my father's, who used to come and stay and 

 on one occasion brought a bear pie ; we were very much 

 annoyed because he did not bring the skull." In the 

 summer the brothers were very much occupied with 

 bird's-nesting, and they began to form their collection of 

 eggs about 1840. About the same time, too, they began 

 to keep the careful records of the migration of birds, 

 which were continued, with only a few intervals, for 

 twenty years. One of their " dodges " was to fill a 



