WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 



First Meeting : 5th August, 1902. 



Mr. "W. T. L. Travers, F.L.S., President, in the chair. 



Inaugural address by the President on " The Bird as the 

 Labourer of Man." (Transactions, p. 1.) 



A discussion followed, in which Messrs. Hustwick, Harding, T. W. 

 Kirk, Hogben, Tregear, Chapman, and Sir James Hector took part, the 

 general opinion expressed being antagonistic to the provisions of the 

 Small Birds Nuisance Bill now before Parliament. 



Sir James Hector exhibited a number of insectivorous 



birds, and described the different species and their habits of 



life ; also specimens of the male and female of the eider duck, 



with the following note :— 



The Colonial Museum has for some years possessed an eider duck 

 (Somateria mollissima) in good plumage, and has recently received, 

 through the kind efforts of Sir Walter Buller, a drake of the same bird, 

 so that I am able to present a pair of this most interesting species. Sir 

 Walter Buller writes as follows : "I have much pleasure in presenting to 

 the Colonial Museum a very fine adult male specimen of the eider duck 

 (or dunter goose, as it is called in Scotland), which I trust will be an 

 acceptable addition to the collection of birds. The eider duck (Somateria 

 mollissima) is very abundant in the arctic regions of both continents, also 

 on the coasts of Norway, Sweden, and Labrador, where, as is well known, 

 the down, self-plucked from its body for nesting purposes, is an important 

 article of commerce. It is plentiful on the northern coasts of Scotland, 

 and occurs, in diminished numbers, some degrees further southward, 

 being not unfrequent in the Hebrides, Shetland, and Orkney Islands ; 

 but here, although they have many nesting-places, they are not suffi- 

 ciently numerous to be of any importance from an economica point of 

 view. Occasionally individuals stray further south, and are in much 

 request as rare visitants. The specimen sent was obtained at Brechen, 

 Scotland, in March, 1902. I purchased it in the flesh, and had it care- 

 fully skinned and prepared by Mr. Walter Burton, of Wardour Street." 



Opossums presented to the Colonial Museum by Mr. 

 Smith, of Petone, were exhibited. 



In remarking on the acquisition, Sir James Hector stated that the 

 real opossum was peculiar to the Continent of America, and was not 

 known anywhere else. The proper name of the exhibits should be 



