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The first of the winter meetings took place on Wednesday 

 afternoon, December 9th, when the President (the Rev. L. 

 Blomefield) read a paper on the Bournemouth firs {vide page 40). 

 Before beginning his subject he exhibited a nest of the water- 

 ouzel presented to the institution by Mr. Bankart, This " dipper/' 

 he said, allied to the thrush and the blackbu'd, is essentially a 

 waterbird, whilst the latter are land birds. It may be seen by 

 the sides of rapid streams, and diving into the water like a moor- 

 hen. It endeavours to keep at the bottom of the water 

 as much as possible in search of its food, consisting of 

 water beetles and fresh water shells. Its nest is built 

 in the rocky inequalities by the banks of streams, and is 

 composed of a tangled mass of brown rootlets. The specimen 

 in question was from the Yorkshire moors. The bird is a 

 native of Somerset, and especially frequents the rocky streams 

 on its borders near Devon. The President took the opportunity 

 of expressing a wish that some one connected with the county 

 would present a local specimen to the museum in Bath. 



The Eev. Canon Ellacombe, who had taken the chair, ex- 

 pressed the pleasure it gave the Club, and especially himself, at 

 hearing another of the President's papers, so full of interest and 

 originality. Though a labour of love to him yet they all felt 

 that he must have taken no ordinary trouble in preparing it, and 

 he was glad to see so large an audience on the occasion. He had 

 never doubted that the Scotch fir was indigenous. The Pinus 

 pinaster too, associated with the former at Bournemouth, had 

 been admitted into the English flora. Mentioned in old writers 

 as the pine apple tree, it had now lost this name when the present 

 fruit was discovered in America. Owing to the rapid onward 

 march of the Scotch fir it is a wonder that it has not spread 

 even further. Kingsley alludes to the way which the pollen of 

 this tree propagates itself in his charming essay "My Winter 

 Garden." The growth of the Scotch fir on our neigh- 

 bouring hills was alluded to by many of the members present. 



