HISTORY OF SOCIETIES. 49 



winter monthfl papers are read and discussed at the periodical meetings 

 of tlie members held at Dudley. 



The Society now numbers 14 honorary members, together with the 

 Presidents and Secretaries of the various other societies in the neighbour- 

 hood, and 158 ordinary members. The subscription ia lOs. 6d. annually. 

 The funds are in a flourishing condition. 



For the first two years the President was Lord Lj-ttelton. From 

 1864 to 1870 the Earl of Dudley was President ; and since that time the 

 Presidents have been : — Professor Eamsav, 1871 ; E. F. Smith, Esq., 

 1872 ; Rev. J. H. Thompson, 1873 ; William" Madeley, Esq., 1874 ; Charles 

 Cochrane, Esq., 1875, 1876, and 1877. 



Mr. John Jones was Honorary Secretary for sis years ; Mr. W. 

 Madeley, for five years ; in 1873, Mr. E. Terry ; and since 1874, Mr. E. 

 B. Marten, Pedmore, near Stoui'bridge. 



The practical benefits which have flowed from this Society are 

 thoroughly realised and valued throughout the South Staffordshire 

 Mining District, and its beneficial influence is felt over a still wider 

 area. 



Corrtspnbencc. 



Black-backed Gull. — A fine specimen of the black-backed guU was 

 shot at Allesley, near Coventrj-, in December last, having doubtless been 

 driven inland by a storm. Its plumage was a dull white, mottled with 

 greyish brown, and no black about it except the bill. This shows that it 

 was an immature specimen, as it acquires the black back from which it 

 derives its name at the age of four years. — John Gulson. 



Watee-fowl. — With the advent of winter various water-fowl have 

 again visited, for brief periods, the larger sheets of water around Birming- 

 ham. At the Edgbaston Pieservoir, Mr. Wyatt informed me that several 

 Herons {ArcUa cinerea, L.) have been seen within the last few weeks; as 

 also a fine flight (forty-six) of a duck which I presume to be Mareca 

 Penelope, L. During December, Mr. Dixon, of the Lower Grounds, 

 Aston, records the ai-rival, on the pools of that place, of several Little 

 Grebe, fPodiceps minor, Lth.,) as many as four being observed at one time. 

 — A.M.B. 



Mildness op the Season. — On Christmas Day last, I gathered in 

 my gai-den, at Moseley, Worcestershire, (500 feet above sea level, subsoil 

 gravel,) a very respectable out-door posy, consisting of several sorts of 

 chrjsanthemums, three kinds of roses, migiaonette, pansies, violets, 

 primroses, polyanthuses, clematises, Christmas roses, (Hellebonis niger,) 

 yellow jasmine, waU flowers, and ten-week stocks. I do not remember 

 ever before gathering so many tender flowers in a situation so exposed, so 

 late in the year. — E. W. B. 



Mounting. — There is one question to which I have tried in vain to get 

 an answer, but which may, perhaps, meet with a reply, through your 

 pages. Some years ago, I believe, the accomplished microscopists of the 

 Birmingham Natural History Society gave a series of lessons on moimt- 

 ing of various kinds to the younger members. In these I was not 

 privileged to share. My question is, would not a second series be useful 

 now ? There must be many fresh members, and among them some, hke 



