THE ZooLtocist—A pRIL, 1876, 4891 
Norrotk AND Norwicu Naturatists’ Society. 
At the usual monthly meeting of this Society, held on the 1st of March, 
the President in the chair, Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., delivered a lecture 
entitled “The Rambles of a Naturalist in Egypt,” giving an account of the 
birds observed by him in that country during his six months’ visit early in 
the past year, with remarks upon their habits and distribution. 
Before Mr. Gurney’s lecture, a paper by Mr. F. Norgate, of Sparham, 
was read by Mr. H. D. Geldart, entitled “A Plea for those Species of 
Birds too often destroyed in this Country through the mistaken zeal or 
vulgar prejudices of Gamekeepers and Gardeners, with Notes on the 
Nesting Habits of various Species, and their Encouragement by the 
erection of Nesting-boxes.” Mr. Norgate commenced by advocating the 
claims to protection of the owls, titmice, &c., in whose favour, from 
observations of his own, he made out a most satisfactory case; as, for 
instance, the finding of twenty good-sized rats in the nest of a barn owl, 
which being perfectly fresh, and the weather very hot at the time, must 
have been all killed during the previous night, whilst in about thirty owls’ 
nests examined by him not one contained the remains of any game bird. 
This and many other equally convincing instances of usefulness to man 
both of owls and many species of small birds were adduced by Mr. Norgate 
as reasons for their being spared the wanton destruction which too often 
awaits them on all hands, and which is only to be accounted for by ignorance 
of their habits and of the services they in reality render us. Having shown 
that these birds are really worth encouraging, Mr. Norgate next proceeded 
to speak of the best mode of affording them protection, and described a plan 
of constructing and erecting nesting-boxes, which he has employed with 
singular success, giving a list of the birds which would most readily avail 
themselves of these artificial homes, and concluded with some highly inte- 
resting remarks upon the nesting habits of both land and water birds, which 
partly by this means he had been enabled to observe. 
A vote of thanks to Mr. Norgate for his valuable and interesting paper 
was carried unanimously. 
Mr. J. H. Gurney, jun., then delivered a lecture on “The Rambles of a 
Naturalist in Egypt.” Confining himself almost entirely to the Ornithology 
of the country, remarkable for the number of aquatic birds making the Nile 
their home, he stated his principal object in visiting Egypt last year was to 
observe them at the period of their nidification: the number of species 
identified by him was 223—far in excess of those observed in Algeria. 
After giving the number of game-birds shot by the party,—consisting of 
snipe, quail, two species of sand grouse, and ducks (of which latter they 
Were too late in the season to obtain any great number),—and stating that, 
as the snipe-shooting of the Delta was equal, if not superior, to the best to 
