Journal of Proceedimjs. Ixxv 



on the farm of Mr. E. J. Benton, at Aveley, near Purfleet. John Peters, 

 foreman to Mr. Benton, noticed the bird in a hedge, and, with the aid of 

 a stick, succeeded in securing it. Peters afterwards found a wasps' nest 

 in the hedge a few feet from the spot. The bird was kept a captive for 

 three or four weeks, and fed chiefly on bread moistened with milk, but it 

 pined away and died, in consequence it would seem of a lack of proper 

 nourishment, as evidenced by the emptiness of the crop when examined. 

 Mr. Benton had kindly presented the specimen to the Club, and it was 

 then in Mr. English's hands for preservation. The specimen appeared 

 to be a young female. Another Honey Buzzard was seen on Mr. Benton's 

 farm on the same day, and has been several times noticed since. On one 

 occasion it was being mobbed by wood-pigeons. On the 25th October it 

 appeared in company with some carrion crows. 



The Secretary read some extracts from a letter received by him from Sir 

 Thos. Fowell Buxton, in which the writer asked whether the Club could 

 use its influence in preventing the slaughter of all birds by keepers. No 

 shooting is now allowed by the Conservators in Epping Forest, and on 

 his own land Sir Fowell had allowed no killing of raptorial birds for 

 years past. It will be very interesting to observe the effect of this pro- 

 hibition after some time, and it would add greatly to the value of the 

 experiment if the same rule could be enforced throughout the valleys of 

 the Koding Eiver and Cobbin Brook. 



The consideration of Sir Fowell Buxton's proposal was deferred until a 

 future meeting of the Society. Votes of thanks were passed to Sir Fowell 

 Buxton, to Mr. Christy, and to Mr. White, for their communications. 



The meeting then resolved itself into the usual Conversazione, at which, 

 in addition to Mr. Fitch's collection of galls and gall- wasps, Mr. E. M. 

 Holmes exhibited and presented to the Club some typical specimens of 

 British Mosses ; Mr. Travis a rabbit's head, showing abnormal growth of 

 the incisor teeth ; and he presented to the Club the curious nest of a Nut- 

 hatch, described in the ' Transactions,' i. 69. Mr. English exhibited and 

 presented a Kestrel from Epping Forest, and some specimens of the 

 Wood Cud-weed {Gnaplialium sylvaticum) from Monk Wood ; Mr. W 

 White a collection of chalk fossils from the " Globe " quarries, at Little 

 Thurrock, Essex, and some coal-period fossils ; and Mr. Oxley and Mr. 

 Letchford exhibited under the microscope various forms of Infusoria, 

 including Lijninias ceratophylUi and Steplinnoceros Eiclioniii and others. 

 The objects found during the excavation of Ambresbury Banks were 

 exhibited, together with the large plans prepared for General Pitt-Kivers's 

 lecture on the Camp before the British Association at York. 



