st:ssion 1895-9G. xxiii 



appointed a Committee of members resident in Watford to find 

 a room in which to phiee the Society's library, and, if possible, 

 one contiguous to it in which to hold our meeting's. The result 

 of the labours of this Conuuittee has been to ascertain that Watford 

 does not possess a building in which the Society can hold meetings 

 and also place its bookcases, which is certainly not a creditable 

 position for the largest town in Hertfordshire to be in. The Com- 

 mittee eventually accepted the courteous offer of the Watford 

 Urban District Council to place at the disposal of the Society for 

 the temporary warehousing of its library, free of charge except for 

 actual expenses, the old Local Board lioom at the Waterworks, and 

 the books and bookcases have recently been removed there. For 

 the satisfactory carrying-out of this arrangement, which the Council 

 considers to be the best that could have been made under the 

 circumstances, the Society is indebted to Mr. Daniel Hill, under 

 whose charge the books are now placed, and who will be pleased 

 to lend out any to members on application to him, the borrowers 

 defi'aying the expense of caniage. 



The Society has taken an active part during the year in two 

 important questions — the suggested softening of the water supplied 

 to Watford, the papers read at the January meeting by Dr. King 

 and Mr. Hopkinson being merely preliminary to a discussion on the 

 subject ; and the protection of certain birds which seem likely to 

 become extinct in Hertfordshire, and of their eggs. The only 

 official act which the late Mr. Henry Seebohm did for the Society 

 during the short period of his presidency was signing a Memorial 

 presented by the Society to the Hertfordshire County Council in 

 favour of the protection of certain wild birds which are seriously 

 diminishing in number and are in danger of extermination, and of 

 their eggs, only birds of peculiar interest or of benefit to man being 

 sought to be specially protected ; the Memorial also recommended 

 that the close time should not commence later than the 15 th of 

 February. The Memorial was refciTed to a sub-committee of the 

 County Council, and has resulted in an order being made by the 

 Home Secretary (dated 7th February, 1896) " varying the close- 

 time, adding certain birds to the schedule of the Act of 1880, and 

 prohibiting the taking or destroying the eggs of certain wild 

 birds." All the birds specified in the Memorial of this Society 

 are thus protected, and a few others have been added. The 

 Memorial and the Order of the Home Secretary are appended to 

 this Report. 



Appendix A. The Memoktai. 



TO THE HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL. 



The Memorial of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society and Field Club. 



Humbly sheweth — 



Your Memorialists beg respectfully to represent to the Hertfordshire County 

 Council as follows : — 



