Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union: Vertebrate Zoology Section. 173. 
did not appear to breed at all. After that they increased enormously, 
greatly exceeding the fecundity of the English Squirrel, and they then 
commenced robbing neignbouring fowl-houses, and last July they coni- 
menced stripping the bark off Sycamore trees by gnawing it. Much as he 
had liked them as charming and confiding little animals, he had been com- 
pelled on this account to reduce their number to a few pairs. 
Curtrous ScotcH RED GrousEe.—Mr. G. Bolam showed an uncommon 
and beautiful grouse which had been shot in Argyleshire last December. 
It might be roughly described as ‘ golden-spangled ' all over its body 
feathers, similar to a Hamburg breed of domestic fowls. Its general build, 
skeleton, and shape, proclaimed it to be really an interesting sport of the 
Red Grouse. 
LESSER BLACK-BACKED GULLS AT FouLSHAW Moss.—Mr. Walter 
Wilson showed a series of charming lantern pictures illustrating his remarks 
on the Lesser Black-backed Gulls at Foulshaw Moss, in Cumberland. With- 
the aid of a small tent he had been able to secure good photographs of 
the actions and ‘habits of these gulls at close quarters, during the nesting 
season, and instanced a rather curious incident whilst thus engaged, viz. : 
a mother Pheasant and her very young brood passed through the gullery 
quite unmolested by the gulls. Mr. Wilson passed over the screen a series 
of slides owned by The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, showing 
the sad and gloomy aspect of an Australian Egret nesting colony, after: 
it had been visited by plume-hunters in the demands of the millinery 
trade. 
BIRDS AT THE FARNES AND Bass Rock.—Mr. qaavee Atkinson showed 
a series of lantern-slides dealing with the nesting birds on the Farne 
Islands, and at the Bass Rock. He also passed round a large series of 
mounted photographs belonging to the Zoological Photo. Club. These 
were much appreciated by the members present, for, besides being picked 
specimens in the art of photography, they illustrated many most interesting 
birds and mammals, and their habits. 
PLUMAGE CHANGES IN THE SANDERLING, Etc.—Professor Patten gave 
an exhaustive address on the ‘ Plumage Changes in Calidyis avrenaria, 
and their Correlation with Sexual Maturity,’ being illustrated throughout 
by lantern-slides of the birds, and by diagrams of the birds’ testes, ex- 
amined from birds secured monthly for the first few years of their lives. 
His experiments tended to prove that although Sanderlings in their first 
Spring may assume the nuptial- or breeding-plumage externally, that 
internally they are juveniles, and that the testes of such males do not 
increase in size with the approcah of the breeding season, as they do in the 
older and breeding males. In the few experiments he had conducted with 
Turnstones and Dunlins the results had tended in the same direction; but 
with the Black-headed Gull it was not until the Spring of the third year, 
and with the Herring Gull not before the fifth year, that the testes had 
developed to maturity. In the young Hedge-Sparrow, however, the 
young male of just under a year old had the testes fully developed as 
the pairing season advanced. 
West or IRELAND ISLAND Birps.—Professor Patten shewed skins 
of several common birds obtained from islands of the west coast of Ireland. 
‘A male House-Sparrow was contrasted with a similar bird from Sheffield, 
in which the former showed not only brighter, but apparently richer 
coloration. Two female Blackbirds, both obtained the same day and 
on the same island, offered a great contrast in size, one being but a pigmy 
compared with the other. 
A Curtous Kitten.—Prof. Patten also exhibited a newly-born kitten, 
which had an unusually sharp, rat-like muzzle and face, and had been 
born with its eyes open. He considered that these abnormalities had been 
due to delay in its birth by at the least nine or ten day s, and were probably 
owing to some obstruction. 
BrIRD-LIFE IN HoLLtanp.—Mr. Riley Fortune, F.Z.S., dealt with Bird- 
gtr April r. 
