44 The Ottawa Naturalist. [May 



leaders in the several branches of the Club's work entered the 

 woods from the west and spent nearly two hours in collecting' and 

 stud)'ing plants, insects and birds. The leaders present were : 

 Geology, Mr. W. J. Wilson ; Botany, Messrs. J. M. Macoun, 

 A. E. Attwood and S. B. Sinclair , Entomology, Messrs James 

 Fletcher, C. H. Young and A. Gibson.; Ornithology, Prof John 

 Macoun and Miss Harmer; Zoology, Mr. Andrew Halkett. The 

 number of species of plants in flower was not great and the atten- 

 tion of the majority of those present was devoted to the study of 

 trees and shrubs, and the characters by which they may be identi- 

 fied by the twigs and buds. Several interesting insects were 

 collected and identified. 



About five o'clock the entire company gathered near the 

 northeast corner of the wood where a convenient pile of logs 

 afforded comfortable seats for the ladies. The president, Mr. W. 

 T. Macoun, was the first speaker, and described briefly the char- 

 acters by which the various trees could be identified from their 

 twigs. He was followed by Prof. Macoun who in a characteristic 

 speech impressed upon the students the necessity of a basis of 

 definite knowledge upon which to build in studying Natural His- 

 tory. Each fact as acquired would then naturally fit itself into its 

 proper niche, and as the years went on a vast amount of valuable 

 knowledge would be accumulated. Dr. Sinclair's announcement 

 that Nature Study was to be given a more prominent place in the 

 Public School curriculum was received with applause He pointed 

 out briefly the advantages of such study and said that public 

 school teachers would now be trained so that they would be 

 equipped with all the knowledge necessary to teach children to 

 understand what they saw and heard when in the woods and 

 fields. Dr. Fletcher was the last speaker, and taking for his text 

 a handful of specimens he described their chief characteristics and 

 uses. The great variety of material collected was not apparent 

 until student after student came forward with some specimen 

 different from what anyone else had seen. 



The excursion was one of the most successful and en+oyable 



ever held under the auspices of the Club. 



mc 



