1 40 The Irish Natu7'alist. June, 1904. 



Nesting Boxes for Birds. 



We are glad to note that birds' nesting-boxes are now made by the 

 Ballycastle Toy Industry, County Antrim, so that Irish naturalists can 

 obtain them at home. They are made in all the usual sizes and shapes, 

 but special requirements can be met, and all prices given on application 

 to the manager. Many samples can be seen at the residence of Robert 

 Patterson, Holywood, and F J. Bigger, Ardrie, Belfast. 



NEWS GLEANINGS. 



S. A. Stewart, A.L.S. 



The well-deserved address and presentation to our veteran colleague 

 by the Belfast Societies will be found recorded on another page. We 

 are glad to see that the value of Stewart's work has been recognised by 

 the Belfast Press, and we quote with pleasure a few lines from the 

 appreciative notice of his career in the Eveiiiug Telegraph of April 26: — 



"This evening, in the Belfast Museum, there will be honoured a 

 citizen who has done more to bring credit and distinction to Belfast 

 than many of her ' merchant princes.' Mr. Samuel Alexander Stewart 

 is one of those men who place the advancement of human knowledge, 

 and the pursuit of science for its own sake, far above the mere 

 accumulation of money and consequent social influence. To the 

 thoughtful man it is one of the most distressing signs of modern 

 life that esteem, popularity, and worth depend altogether upon one's 

 banking account. Given a large income, and, no matter how poor the 

 intellect, the owner becomes at once an important, popular, ' run-after,' 

 and influtntial person. On the other hand, a man of the highest intel- 

 lectual power, who works single-mindedly for art, science, or literature, 

 one whom the great minds of the world would be proud to know, is 

 neglected and looked down upon as being a faddist, if he does not possess 

 an abundance of this world's goods. And yet such men will be remembered 

 and honoured after the money-makers have sunk into oblivion. Mr. 

 S. A. Stewart, for nearly fifty years, has been engaged in quiet investi- 

 gations into the botany and geology of the North of Ireland, which, 

 although they are not of the nature to attract the attention of the ' man 

 in the street,' have brought fame and distinction to himself. Mr. 

 Stewart cares not for fame ; he is actuated only by an absorbing love of 

 nature, and a desire to add to the sum of human knowledge," 



