Holmesdale Natural History Club. 27 



He visited the spot every day, until one morning he found the bird had 

 hatched off ; so in the afternoon he went down -wdth three companions, two 

 of them armed with butterfly-nets, but it took them some hours to catch 

 four of the young bu-ds. Of the NatatoreB which I mentioned as being 

 hatched without down, tlie following particulars may be interesting. The 

 young cormorants when first hatched are quite naked, the skin being of a 

 purphsh black. This in six or seven days becomes clothed with a thick 

 black down, but the feathered plumage is not perfected in less than five or 

 six weeks. The j'oung gannets when hatched are naked, their skin smooth 

 and bluish black, but covered in a few days with a white down, which, 

 growing very rapidlj', soon becomes very thick, giving them in this state 

 the appearance of large powder puffs or masses of cotton. 



In the discussion which followed the reading of the paper, Mr. H. M. 

 Wallis mentioned having on one occasion come ufion a brood of young 

 greenshanks, and spoke of the great similarity of the colour of their down 

 to the mottled appearance of the surrounding lichen and moss found in the 

 locality, so that they were very easily overlooked or lost sight of. He con- 

 trasted this with the slaty colour and perfectly naked condition of the 

 young rook, a bird which does not require any such special protection. In 

 reference to Mr. Bidwell's statement that the young buds in the family 

 Caprimulgidfe are clothed with down, Mr. Wallis stated that he could 

 confirm this, having once found a 3'oung nightjar recently hatched at 

 Crohamhurst, near Croydon. He observed that this young bird possessed 

 the faculty of running — a power which is lost in the adult bird. The 

 legs were proportionately much longer in the young than in the adult. Dr. 

 Bossey enquired whether it might be laid down that the colouring of the 

 down on young birds is correlated to that of the surrounding ground or 

 other objects. Mr. Bidwell, in reply, said that this certainly appears to be 

 the case in many instances ; and in confirmation of the remarks on this 

 subject in his paper as illustrated by the instance quoted of the grey jjlover, 

 he exhibited the coloured plate of the young bird of this species, in 

 Dresser's "Birds of Europe." Mr. S. Webb remarked that, generally 

 speaking in nature, things are found to be specially coloured where re- 

 quired for purposes of protection or other causes. Mr. A. J. Crosfield, 

 referring to the specimen of the young little grebe, thought this might 

 perhaps be an instance of protective colouring, as the dark back might 

 serve to protect it from enemies above, and the white breast and under 

 parts might equally protect it from enemies below the water. 



Mr. A. J. Crosfield then read a jpaper on the subject of " Man's Influence 

 on the Flora of the neighbourhood," as follows : — 



Certain species both in the animal and vegetable kingdom appear 

 specially to thrive under the influence of man, whilst on the 

 other hand the presence of man seems by slow degrees to become 

 fatal to some species. Amongst mammals, rats and mice may be 

 almost regarded as human parasites. It is well-known that the 

 range of the house sparrow is limited by the range of man, or pejhaps 



