A YORKSHIRE NATURALIST 67 



that a new bird had been seen in his grounds with 

 a remarkable red neck. 



The ornithologist at once accepted the invitation 

 to visit his friend's place and see the bird for himself, 

 which he did clearly enough, and immediately called 

 for a gun and shot a poor little robin, which had 

 been accidentally caught in a trap, and had had a bit 

 of red rag stitched round his neck, in order to hoax 

 our ambitious would-be discoverer. On another 

 occasion one of the same fraternity, but who claimed 

 to be an authority on angling, was cheated in a 

 similar way. He was informed that a notable 

 discovery had been made in a neighbouring sheet of 

 fresh water, viz., that salt water herrings had been 

 found in it living, and he was invited to prove the 

 statement for himself. He went, but being very 

 short-sighted, one of the conspirators had no diffi- 

 culty in fastening a fresh herring to his hook, this 

 the angler landed in some excitement. Not content, 

 however, with having hoaxed our piscatorial friend 

 so far, a second fish was landed in like manner. On 

 looking at it a moment, the angler exclaimed, with 

 a twinkling eye, " Nay, not red ones ! " 



Whilst work at the museum progressed, other 

 labours were not neglected. The recent discoveries 

 at Burdie House, near Edinburgh, chronicled by 

 Dr. Hibbert, had attracted much attention, reveal- 

 ing as they did the existence in the carboniferous 

 rocks of a magnificent group of fossil Sauroid 

 fishes. Soon afterwards the Leeds geologists 



