4 PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



much eaten by birds, as out of 128 species of British birds 

 examined only 10 were found to contain their remains in 

 their alimentary canal. Starlings and sparrows eat them 

 occasionally. The severe and long-continued winter of 

 1916-7 was very destructive to many birds all through the 

 country. In my own garden no blue tits, generally common, 

 were seen, and some other birds were scarcer than usual. 

 Government has taken some steps for the destruction of the 

 house sparrow, which, though it may have some redeeming 

 qualities, nevertheless consumes a vast amount of corn, 

 of which the country is at present specially in need. Phea- 

 sants, on the contrary, when not artificially fed with corn, 

 seem to be distinctly useful, consuming large numbers of 

 insects, slugs, &c., and very little grain. An interesting 

 migration of the white-winged black tern ( Hydrochelidon 

 leucoptera) has taken place in the west of Australia, where 

 about Easter, 1917, it was found in great numbers as far south 

 as Freemantle, about 1,000 miles south of its usual limits, 

 having previously been very rare in that continent. It is 

 suggested that the birds followed a swarm of dragonflies 

 on which they were feeding. Whether the insects also 

 migrated to the same extent is apparently not known, but 

 seems improbable. The unusual spectacle of a cuckoo 

 carrying an egg in its beak while flying low was observed in 

 Cornwall last early summer, the bird being accompanied by 

 its mate, which was uttering its usual cry. In these days 

 of shortness of food it is interesting to learn that whale meat 

 has been tried in America with very satisfactory results. 

 The only trouble is that so few whales are stranded on our 

 coasts that the amount of food yielded by them will make 

 little difference to the general population ; but as it has not 

 yet been rationed, should one come, it should provide a local 

 feast ! It will be a satisfaction to the members of our Club 

 to feel that the very valuable collection of spiders from all 

 parts of the world made by our late distinguished Vice- 

 President, the Rev. 0. Pickard-Cambridge, and containing 

 more than 1,000 types, which was bequeathed by him to the 



