THE FAUNA OP LINCOLNSHIRE. 255 



list, we still require further knowledge and more scientific in- 

 vestigations. The capture of a Seal or the stranding of a Whale — 

 and such occurrences are by no means unfrequent — should at 

 once be noted, and an examination carried out on the spot, 

 careful notes and measurements made, the skull, at least, pre- 

 served, and where possible a photograph taken before the carcase 

 is removed. 



There is no other faunal area in Lincolnshire where the old 

 glories have so entirely vanished as in the fenland, formerly a 

 vast level of peat- moor, morass and bog, with league beyond 

 league of shallow mere, interspersed with a vast growth of reed 

 and bull-rush and various water-loving plants, and on the drier 

 portion deep sedge and doubtless some rich pasturage, with 

 thicket of sallow, willow, birch, and sweet-gale, which before the 

 dawn of history had usurped the place of oak, Scotch fir, and 

 yew. The whole of this vast level was a paradise for wild 

 creatures, beast, bird, and fish ; and predominate over all, upon 

 the peat-stained waters of the shallow lagoons floated primitive 

 man in a canoe dug out from a single tree, and using weapons 

 tipped with fractured flint or fish-bone. 



Of the natural treasures of the old fenland we have but scant 

 record. Unfortunately our forefathers, when they did write, 

 cared little for depicting their natural every-day surroundings, 

 yet we must be thankful for the few precious records which have 

 come down to us of those olden times, and enable us to form 

 some idea of the extreme richness of the Fen fauna and flora, 

 from the ' Liber Eliensis ' ; the Chronicles of Crowland ; and the 

 writings of William of Malmsbury, Thomas Fuller, Camden's 

 'Britannia,* and the naturalists Pennant, Bay, and Montagu; 

 also the quaint verses left by Michael Drayton in his ' Polyolbion,' 

 and by " Antiquary Hall," of Llyn, in the doggerel rhymes depicting 

 a fenman's daily life. 



One aim of our Society should be the collection of any scrap, 

 oral or written, in connection with physical-archaeology, and any 

 who have opportunities of inspecting old deeds, letters, and family 

 account-books, will do good service by extracting any small matter 

 which directly or indirectly bears on this subject. Such entries 

 were, no doubt, considered most trivial by the original writers, 

 but in the light of the present day they are of much interest and 

 importance. To cite one or two instances alone, how little 



