21 



tlie paper a discusion ensued, in which the president, Mr, R. M. Gordon, 

 Mr. R. Ellis, Mr. Leigh Hunt, and Mr. C. H. Watkins took part. A vote 

 of thanks was accorded to Mr. A. C. Claudet, and the meeting terminated. 



MAY 10th, 1883.— ordinary MEETING. 



ME. WM. BOULTING, L.E.C.P., 



President, in the Chair. 



The Minntes of the pre^ous meeting were read and confirmed. 



The donations to the Museum and Library were announced, and the donofs 

 thanked. 



Dr. Herbert Cooper and Mr. W. J. Palmer were elected members of the 

 Club. MR. F. H. HAINES read a paper on "LOCAL BIRDS." 



The lecturer commenced by giving a short sketch of the classification of 

 birds, explaining the grounds upon which it was founded. Examples were 

 then taken of each of the orders into which the great class of Aves, or birds, 

 is divided. As an example of the raptor et, or birds of prey, the kestrel hawk 

 was noticed. This bird, which is often to be seen hovering over fields in the 

 neighbourhood, has a habit of usurping possession of the uninhabited nests 

 of crows and magpies, and if inhabited expelling the rightful owners by force. 

 Although the lecturer considered these birds harmless to the gamekeeper, and 

 certainly useful to the farmer from its habit of feeding upon field-mice, yet, 

 he stated, occasionally they would feed upon small birds, and he cited an 

 instance which had come under his own observation, in which twenty-three 

 birds were discovered in one nest. As a second example of this order, a 

 specimen of the short-eared owl {Otiis Irachyotus) was exhibited. This 

 specimen was obtained by the late curator of the club (Mr. J. S. Ellis) in a 

 field near North End. It has a habit of depositing its eggs in rabbits' holes, 

 resembling in this repect the well-known burrowing owl of the American 

 prairies. The second order, the insessores, by far the most extensive English 

 order, is divided into four groups : — 1. Dentirostres, or tooth-billed ; 2. 

 Conirostres, or eone-billed ; 3, Scansores, or climbers ; 4. Fissirostres, or 

 cleft-billed birds. The red-backed shrike (Lanius collui-io) was taken as an 

 example of the first sub-division. This bird has the habit of affixing to 

 thorns various beetles, either as food or as bait for certain small birds upon 

 which it preys. The shrike mimics the songs of other birds. Of the thrush 

 family many specimens were exhibited, some of which were shot in the neigh- 

 bourhood. In spealdng of the warbler family, the lecturer mentioned the 

 great loss the Heath had sustained by the draining of the marsh by the Board 

 of Works, and showed that many species of this interesting family had become 

 much scarcer owing to this act of ignorance and folly. Not a few of these 

 delicate- looking little birds sing by night as well as by day, and their voices 

 may be heard when most other birds are silent. The conirostres, or cone- 

 billed birds, were next described. The skylark belongs to this group. These 

 birds sometimes assemble in flocks so vast that when settled they cover several 

 acres of ground. The scansores were next described, the wryneck and lesser 

 spotted woodpecker being taken as examples. Attention was drawn to the 

 sharp recurved claws and stiff forked tail, which, by a long series of modifi- 

 cations, had reached a state so well suited to birds of climbing habits. The 

 cuckoo was referred to before passing on to the fissirostres, of which group 

 a kingfisher had been observed in North End. The rasores were illustrated 

 by members of the coiumbkla and phasianids, and the ffrallaiores by the 



