8 The Ottawa Naturalist. [April 



Robertson spoke on February Sth on "The Call of the Land," 

 and by special request gave a twenty-minute talk on the work 

 of Macdonald College. This meeting was graced by the presence 

 of His Excellency the Governor- General, who moved the vote 

 of thanks to the lecturer, which in turn was seconded by Hon. 

 Sydney Fisher, Minister of Agriculture. 



As in former years, the Soirees Committee prepared a pro- 

 gramme of fortnightly meetings. It was their sad duty to make 

 the first of these a Memorial Meeting for the late Dr. James 

 Fletcher. Lt.-Col. Wm. White, C.M.G., the first president of the 

 Club, acted as chairman, and tributes were paid to the memory 

 of our lamented leader by Mr. A. E. Attwood, Lt.-Col. Wm. White, 

 Dr. Wm. Saunders, Mr. W. H. Harrington, Mr. R. B. Whyte, 

 Mr. Arthur Gibson, Prof. John Macoun, Dr. H. M. Ami, Prof. 

 F. T. Shutt, Rev. C. G. Eifrig, Mr. E. R. Cameron, Mr. T. J. 

 MacLaughlin, Mr. W. J. Topley and Dr. S. B. Sinclair. Verbatim 

 reports of these tributes appear in the Fletcher Memorial Number 

 of The Ottawa Naturalist. 



On January Sth, Rev. C. G. Eifrig gave an address in the 

 Normal School on "Our Canadian Birds." The lecture was 

 illustrated with the Bickmore series of lantern slides on this 

 subject, which were kindly lent by McGill University for this 

 special lecture. Mr. Eifrig's address was rich in material gained 

 by actual observation in the field, and his talk was follow- 

 ed with keen interest bv an audience that completely filled the 

 large Assembly Hall. 



On January 19th, Mr. Thos. W. Sowter read a paper on 

 "Algonquin and Huron Occupation of the Ottawa Valley." 

 Mr. Sowter, who has done excellent research work in the district, 

 presented three distinct sets of evidence to prove that the Hurons 

 had occupied portions of the Ottawa Valley. The lecturer opened 

 up a field that was new to most of the audience, and his paper 

 was also a masterly literary effort. This paper is to be published 

 in The Ottawa Naturalist. 



Prof. R. W. Brock, Director of the Geological Survey, 

 delivered "A Popular Address on Minerals" on February 16th. 

 Prof. Brock's lecture was made specially interesting by means of 

 his excellent use of a large number of specimens. 



March 2nd was "Ladies' Night" on the programme, a 

 pleasing innovation. Miss M. McKay Scott spoke on "Stories 

 about Flowers and their Healing Powers," dealing particularly 

 with the part flowers have played as s^^mbols and emblems from 

 the earliest times of the race. Miss Florence Burt followed with a 

 paper on "Mimicry in Nature." Various interesting examples of 



