Journal 379 



towards evening when wending their way homeward to roost. As I drive a 

 good deal into the country in an oj)en carriage, this defect is partially supplied 

 by the half raised position of the head and the eyes being freed from the care 

 of looking after the legs, as in walking they are constantly obliged to do. 



'* Thus I became aware the other day of an immense flight of plovers which 

 would certainly have escaped the vision of a walker. They were at a great 

 height, about five miles out the Glasgow Euad, and were flying westward in 

 what in military language might be called a line of ten or twelve battalions, 

 quite separate from each other, forming irregular masses, some of which some- 

 times circled round for a little and then resumed their westward course. 

 They must have numbered many thousand birds in all. It is difficult to see 

 any reason for such enormous gatherings. They were so high that I could 

 only guess them to be plovers from the faintly seen motion of the wings. 



"The great plain there seems favourable to monstrous public meetings of 

 Birds. Early in the winter I saw five of the very large fields in that quarter 

 covered with rooks and gulls, particularly the latter. My brother, our coach- 

 man, and myself agreed that we had never seen such a multitude." 



4. "On the Occurrence of a Small Naticiform Gasteropod, showing Colour 

 Bands, in the Cement Stone Group of Fifeshire." By K. Ethekidge, 

 jun. 



Wednesday, \Uh February \d>%0.—VvoL Arch. Geikie, F.R.S., President, 



in the Chair. 

 The following gentlemen were elected Ordinary Fellows of the Society : 

 L. L. Rowland, M.A., M.D. ; William Laughton; John Alex. Robertson, 

 C.A. ; A. N. Denton, M.D. 



The following communications were read : 



1. "The ' Pitchstone ' of Eskdale — a Geological Retrospect and Comparison 



of Geological Methods." By Professor A. Geikie, F.R.S. 



2. "On the Occurrence of the Night Heron [Nycticorax griscus) in Clack- 



mannanshire, and the American Night Heron {Nycticorax Gardeni) in 

 Ayrshire." By Robert Gray. (Specimens exhibited.) 



3. " Report on a Collection of Fossils from the Bowen River Coalfield and the 



Limestone of the Fanning River, North Queensland." By Robert 

 Etheridge, jun. 



Wednesday, 17th March 1880. — Professor J. Duns, President, in the Chair. 

 The following gentlemen were elected Ordinary Fellows of the Society : 

 James Hunter, F.R.C.S.E. ; James T. Carter; George Muirhead; William 

 Allan Carter, Assoc. M. Inst. C.E. ; Henry Leek; George H. Johnston; Duncan 

 Shaw ; Arthur Cowell Stark ; Hunter Jackson Barron. 

 The following communications were read ; 



1. "On some of Plateau's Experiments on Surface Tension. " By Alfred 



Daniell, M.A., B.Sc. 



2. "Notes on the Winter Birds of Islay." By Robert Scot-Skirving. 



3. The Secretary exhibited, with remarks, a hybrid Pheasant, between Phasi- 



OMus j)i^tiis and Phasianius amherstia, which had been reared near 

 Linlith;:jow. 



