Ivi PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



any one sexual female are either all males or all females, 

 but not both. Further investigations have lately been made 

 with regard to the age of fish (in this case, herrings) being 

 indicated by the number of rings on their scales ; but it seems 

 doubtful whether this mode can be relied on. To come to 

 birds, it would seem that kites, which have been for many 

 years very scarce in this country, are increasing in numbers 

 in Wales, and have bred in Devonshire. They have also 

 been recorded in Somerset, Derbyshire, and Buckinghamshire. 

 Kites are said to have been formerly abundant in the streets 

 of London, where they acted as scavengers ; but as they are 

 partial to chickens, protection will only be extended to 

 them while they remain rare. Five species of birds new to 

 Scotland have been observed, namely, the Lesser Grey 

 Shrike, the Melodious Warbler, the Indian Stonechat, the 

 Gull-billed Tern and the Scandinavian sub-species of the 

 Lesser Black-backed Gull. All these have, however, been 

 recorded from England ; but the Dusky Willow-Warbler 

 (Phylloscopus fuscatus), met with at Auskerry on October 1st, 

 1913. is an Asiatic species not hitherto recorded from any 

 part of Europe. A pair of Riippell's Warbler (Sylvia 

 rueppelli), a rare East European species, were recorded for 

 the first time as British at Baldslow, Hastings. A rare 

 British bird, the blue breast (Sylvia suecica), was seen in my 

 garden on May 2nd, 1914, by my niece, Miss Dorothy 

 Rogers, who watched it for some little time and gave an 

 accurate description. The throat was entirely blue ; but 

 in this respect different specimens vary. It has once before 

 occurred in Dorset. The growing scarcity of the landrail 

 in this county has been noticed for many years by myself 

 and others, and, from information collected by circulars, it 

 rarely now breeds in the South and East of England. In 

 other parts South of the Pennine Range there has been a 

 decrease in numbers ; but in the Pennines and the district 

 West of them, landrails are still abundant. Formerly one 

 could always hear the harsh note of this bird, more familiar 

 to me as the Corncrake, but now never. I have been looking 



