30 Anniversary Address. 



tastes which our Club promotes, and by the enjoyment to which 

 it leads of those scenes, which Providence has so skilfully adapted 

 to call forth in us an admiration of His works, rather than by the 

 absolute amount of new facts or discoveries which we may in the 

 course of our rambles together, or of our solitary studies, con- 

 tribute to the stores of science. Some papers towards the next 

 number of our Transactions have been furnished during the past 

 season ; but our meetings have been, as they are intended to be, 

 more fruitful of improvement and entertainment to ourselves, 

 than of what concerns the public. 



With these introductory remarks I resume the chronicle of 

 our proceedings from the last meeting of the season of 1848, to 

 which it was brought down in the address of our President last 

 year. 



Our winter meeting in 1849 was held at Gloucester, on January 

 18th, to enable us to take advantage of the kind invitation of 

 the Literary and Scientific Association of that City, to join their 

 Conversazione on that evening. Our meeting was attended by 

 Messrs. Light, Baker, Strickland, Bayly, Knollys, Rumsey, Gyde, 

 Hay ward, Ball, Wood, Jones, and Sir Thomas Tancred, mem- 

 bers, and by Mr. Gould (the Australian naturalist), Waldren, 

 Todd and North, as visitors. We saw with great interest at the 

 house of our member, Mr. Wilton, his living specimens (some of 

 them hatched in this country) of that beautiful little Australian 

 Parrot, the Melopsittacus undulatus of Gould. This naturalist, who 

 had first brought this species alive to Europe, and described and 

 figured it in his magnificent work on the Birds of Australia, was 

 fortunately with us, and was much interested with the account 

 Mrs. Wilton gave of the habits of this bird, which she had had 

 such a favourable opportunity of observing. We witnessed the 

 anxiety of the cock bird to keep his mate, which was then sitting 

 on three eggs, to her maternal duties. Whenever she left the 

 nest for a little exercise, he appeared in great excitement and 

 soon began to drive her back ; indeed we were told that when she 

 first began to sit, domestic broils had run so high, that the hen 

 was severely injured by her ungallant consort ; he was, however, 

 in return, very assiduous in supplying her with food as long as 

 >\\r remained on the nest. 



The cathedral, — a dormitory of a convent of black friars, — and 



