1886-87.] Fossils of Red Crag and Chalk Pits, Stiffolk. 51 



shape it is oval rather than round, and the means of entrance 

 and exit is a small hole near the top. How the sitting birds 

 dispose of their long tails is more than I can tell. It has been 

 stated, and probably with truth, that they turn them backwards 

 over their heads, after the manner of those contortionists we 

 occasionally see in the theatre, who, by doubling back their 

 bodies, manage to gaze at the audience through their legs. 

 They may, perhaps, put them straight up against the side of 

 the neat ; but it is really of very little use hazarding theories, as 

 they would be extremely difficult to prove, especially when the 

 smallness of the entrance-hole is taken into consideration, and 

 the fact that the bird is not likely to remain long enough in the 

 nest to permit of close investigation. 



In conclusion, let me urge upon every member of this 

 Society who may have it in his or her power, to do what 

 they can to protect the little subjects of this paper, and by 

 their influence and good example endeavour to uproot those 

 silly and cruel prejudices which in the past have done so much 

 to deprive our woods and gardens of the presence of that most 

 interesting and useful race, the titmice. 



[Stuffed specimens were shown in illustration of the above paper.] 



IX.— THE FOSSILS OF THE RED CRAG AND 

 CHALK PITS, SUFFOLK. 



By Miss MINNIE M'KEAN. 



{Read Feb. 23,1887.) 



Last November, being in Suffolk, I visited, with some friends, 

 one of the red crag cuttings and one of the chalk pits in the 

 neighbourhood of Ipswich. I had heard a great deal about the 

 crag formation, but it was all so new to me that I wished 

 much to see it, and to make a collection of its fossils for my- 

 self. This desire was strengthened after inspecting the inter- 

 esting collection in the Museum at Ipswich, — a building which 

 I would advise any lover of Nature in most of her departments 

 to visit as soon as possible. 



We had a beaittiful day, and after driving four miles or so 

 through lanes bordered with hedgerows on either side, over 



