COUNCIL FOR 1846. IS 



has EVER received, has been the munificent donation by Mr. 

 William Rudston Read, of his extensive Collection of British 

 Birds, on the formation of which he has during several years 

 spared neither pains nor cost. The only condition annexed to 

 this liberal gift was, that it should be kept separate from the 

 general ornithological collection of the Society, and distin- 

 guished as " The Rudston Collection of British Birds j" but 

 the Council felt it no less an imperative duty, than a gratification 

 to their own feelings, to recommend to the general monthly 

 meeting at which the donation was announced, the election of 

 Mr. Read as a Life Member of the Society. The Council 

 propose, as soon as the necessary arrangements can be efiected, 

 to place " the Rudston Collection" in one of the upper rooms 

 of the Museum, at present occupied by a part of the Collection 

 of Antiquities about to be removed to the Hospitium. It will 

 thus be kept conspicuously distinct, and will permit the more 

 efiectual and instructive display of the general collection of Birds 

 in the centre room of the Museum. 



These alterations in the arrangement of the Ornithological 

 and Antiquarian Departments will necessarily entail a consider- 

 able expenditure, beyond what the annual income of the Society 

 can fairly be expected to bear. The Coimcil therefore have 

 recently appealed to the liberality of the Members to assist in 

 carrying these arrangements into efiect. Several of the Members 

 have already responded to this appeal, and the Subscription at 

 present amounts to about £110, which the Council hope will 

 still be increased. 



The chief addition to the Botanical department has been the 

 purchase of a Herbarium of Pyrenaean Plants, collected by Mr. 

 Spruce, formerly of this city. The Curator of Botany delivered 

 during the summer a course of Botanical demonstrations, to 

 which the Members of the Society and their families were gra- 

 tuitously admitted. 



The Library has continued to receive the publications of 

 learned Societies at home and abroad ; in other respects the 

 donations have not been numerous or important. But the 

 Society has had the good fortime to obtain by purchase, at a 



