284 REPORTS OF SOCIKTIES. 



previously made to the Society to furnish as complete collections as possible of 

 the Coleoptera and Birds of the Midlands respectively, if the Socfety would 

 provide proper cabinets for storing thein. 



NOKWICH GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY.— At the anniversary meeting of this 

 Society, held on NovemberTth, the President (Mr. William \Vliitaker, B.A., F.G.S.), 

 read a very interesting address "On things in general and Red Chalk in particular." 

 After referring to recant publications on the Geology of Noi-folk. he turned his 

 attention to the literature of the Ked Chalk, noticing the many opinions 

 expressed about its age and relations. The stratigraphical evidence seemed to 

 him to favour the view that the Ked Chalk was the basement bed of the White 

 Chalk ; but the palfeontological evidence seemed to put a veto on this, unless 

 we can explain the occurrence of the many Gault forms, either by derivation 

 (of which we have no evidence), or by local survival to later times; and he 

 believed that something of this sort may have occui-red ; at all events, he had 

 found numbers of specimens of the Belemnites minimus in the Chalk Blarl of 

 Norfolk. 



OXFORDSHIRE NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY— October 27th.— A meeting 

 was held in the University Museum. Professor Westwood. M.A., F.L.S., presided, 

 and contributed some magnificent water-colour imiutings of Natural History 

 subjects, made by a Scotch lady, one a picture of a large Atlas Moth on a branch 

 of a species of Hibiscus being specially admired. The Professor also exhibited 

 and described a series of insects whose depredations on vegetable life do much 

 damage ; one of the species Heracliaria, whose life-history Professor Westwood 

 had traced out, attacking the seeds of parsnips, others the vine, cabbage, 

 asparagus, &o. Mr. T. F. Fremantle, of Balliol College, exhibited a specimen of 

 the Great-crested Grebe, caught near Wiuslow, Bucks, which it was suggested 

 came from a reservoir near Tring, a well-known breeding place of that species. 

 Mr. Macpherson exhibited in the flesh a male Goshawk (Astur paluvih irius), 

 netted near Horspath on October 12th. He also showed, by permission of Mr. 

 Darby, a pair of Hobbies (Falco subhiiteo), shot near Cumuor in June last, 

 together with their nest and eggs. He exhibited a living Chaffinch with a 

 tendency to albinism, and commented upon its general development. He read 

 a note from Mr. S. Salter, jun., late of Egi-ove, on the Lesser Redpoll, a nest of 

 which was obtained near Oxford in May, 1882. Blr. Macpherson made a few 

 remarks on the Goldfinch, expressing a hope that the close season for this 

 charming species might be extended, in order to recruit its numbers, upwards of 

 300 Goldfinches, netted near Oxford during the last eight weeks by only three 

 of the local bird-catchers, giving some idea of the war waged against the Gold- 

 finch throughout the greater part of England. He then read a paper on 

 "Birds Observed on the Western Coast of Scotland and the East Coast of 

 England," in the course of which he sketched an outline of the main features 

 of Hebridean bird life, laying some stress on the remarkable tameness 

 of some small birds, especially of the Twite, in certain localities ; on the breed- 

 ing of the Goldfinch in Sleat: on the Raven, Hooded Crow, and Chough ; on the 

 Peregrine Falcon and White-tailed Eagle ; on the Sheldrake and Redbreasted 

 Merganser (of which several pairs bred on islands in Loch Dunvegan during the 

 late season) ; the Manx Shearwater and the nesting habits of the Black (iuille- 

 mot were also discussed, after which Mr. Macpherson read his autumn notes on 

 the birds of Aldborough, v,'here he had observed a great migi-atiou of Sand 

 Martins, together with a few House Swallows, as early as the Gth of September, 

 between six and seven a.m., upon the coast. Mr. Macpherson met with the Grey 

 Phalerope, Great Skua, Lesser Tern, Sanderling, Green Sandpiper, Knot, and 

 tlie Bartailed Godwit in summer plumage. Scoter Duck, and Pygmy Curlews, 

 together with other marsh-loving species : and exhibited skins of the Pygmy 

 Curlew, Lesser Tern, and others of the foregoing, together with those of the 

 Gold' n Plover, both in transitional and winter dress, the Ringed Plover, Dunlin. 

 <S:c. Mr. O. V. Apliu read a note on the nesting of the Great Crested Grebe 

 {Pocliceps cristatiis) in Oxfordshire, for which see page 275. 



