J"'y' 1 Field Naturalists' Club — Proceedings. 3c) 



wherein he ridiculed the contention that the native birds 

 were being destroyed in any number by the departmental 

 system of laying poison for the destruction of rabbits, and on 

 behalf of Mr. Allan invited any person to be present at a 

 poisoning and see for himself if any destruction of birds took 

 place. Messrs. C. L. Barrett and J. Gabriel offered to under- 

 take the duty. 



ANNUAL REPORT. 



The hon. secretary, Mr J. R. Tovey, read the thirty-fourth 

 annual report for the year ended 30th April, 1914, which was 

 as follows : — 



" To THE Members of the Field Naturalists' Club of 



Victoria. 



" Ladies and Gentlemen, — Your committee have the honour 

 to submit for your consideration the thirty-fourth annual 

 report, in which are shown the operations of the Club during 

 the year ending 30th April, 1914. 



" The year has been an uneventful one, but a considerable 

 amount of useful work has been done. 



" During the year 34 new members were elected, consisting 

 of 18 ordinary, 8 country, 2 associate, and 6 junior members. 

 At the September meeting of the Club it was decided to repeal 

 clause {e) of rule 4, relating to junior membership, and no 

 further nominations for junior members have been made. 

 However, an amendment of rule 4, by the repealing of a portion 

 of clause {d), has been proposed, and should thus provide for 

 those promising juniors who might come in as associates, the 

 maximum age of admission as associates being limited only. 

 The total membership of the Club amounts to 236, and the 

 following is the detailed list : — 6 honorary, 2 life, 143 ordinary, 

 64 country, 5 asociate, and 16 junior members (for this year 

 only). The total membership thus shows a decrease of 67 

 when compared with last year, but the reduction has been 

 caused principally by the falling-off in the number of junior 

 members. The new members elected exceeded the resignations. 



" We regret having to record the loss by death of three 

 members, to whom reference has already been made in the 

 Naturalist. Mr. Charles Stout, who died on the i8th of May, 

 1913, was a promising young member, who, in addition to 

 taking an active interest in the Club's affairs, for some years 

 acted as honorary secretary for juniors, and was largely 

 responsible for the holding together of that group. Dr. 

 Alexander ^lorrison, who was a member from 1884 until his 

 death in December, 1913, was for some years Government 

 Botanist for the State of Western Australia, his death occurring 

 in Mctoria while engaged on botanical work for the Common- 



