‘174 Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union: Vertebrate Zoology Section. 
life in Holland, where, during the past summer, he had made a sojourn for 
the purpose of studying and. photographing birds. He pointed out that 
nearly all the interesting birds which were common on the meers and 
polders in Holland had formerly nested in similar situations in England, 
and, except for persecution, they would still be nesting here. He then 
exhibited a succession of descriptive lantern-slides, showing the nesting 
areas, and in most cases, the birds and nests, of the following species :— 
Spoonbill, Purple Heron, Bittern, Marsh Harrier, White Stork, Black Tern, 
Avocet, Black-tailed Godwit, Ruff, Kentish Plover, Great Reed Warbler, 
Blue-headed Wagtail, Shoveler, Garganey, etc. 
THE NATTERJACK.—He remarked upon the abundance of the Natter- 
jack Toad, showed pictures of several ‘ in focus’ at one time ; stating that 
he considered they differed slightly from British Natterjacks, in having a 
broader yellow stripe down the back; but he intended to make further 
observations in the future respecting this matter. 
IcELANDIC MEADow Pipit.—Mr. Leonard Gaunt exhibited a Meadow 
Pipit, which he had obtained in Iceland, some years ago. It was of the 
small lighter form, and appeared to be similar to some that pass through 
Yorkshire on migration. 
WuitE Stoat At ILKLEY.—Mr. Rosse Butterfield brought a very 
beautiful white female Stoat or Ermine, taken a month previously at 
Ilkley, and now in the Keighley Museum. It was entirely white, excepting 
a small spot behind each eye, and its black-tipped tail, the basal half of 
which was yellow. 
CRYSTAL PALACE CAGE BiRD SHow.—Mr. H. B. Booth described a 
visit to the recent Crystal Palace Cage Bird Show, which was quite a 
lesson in ornithology to a field-naturalist. Besides such freaks as ‘ talking ” 
canaries and hybrids, there were hundreds of British birds exhibited. 
They all appeared to be in good plumage and health, and included such 
unusual cage-birds as the Dartford Warbler, Lesser Spotted Woodpeckers, 
Tree-Creepers, Goldcrests, and Bearded Reedling, besides several Nightin- 
gales, Blackcaps, and Hawfinches. 
YELLOW-NECKED MOUSE AND PoLecat.—Mr. Booth showed a Yellow- 
necked Mouse (Mus flavicollis) from Gloucestershire. This exceptionally 
large, long-tailed species of Wood Mouse was only described by Mr. De 
Winton in 1894, and has not yet been recorded so far north as Yorkshire. 
He also exhibited a large male Polecat which had been recently trapped 
near Aberystwith. In the discussion it was stated that Polecats were still 
crossed with the domestic Ferret to increase the savageness of the off- 
spring, and that these latter adopted more of the Polecat’s tactics in hunting 
and killing. It was reported that on an estate within thirty miles south- 
east of London, Polecats had recently become almost common again, 
owing to some escaping and the house afterwards being unoccupied for 
some length of time.—H.B.B. 
==) === 
It will be remembered that at the Sheffield meeting of the British 
Association, much was heard of the so-called fossil horse of Bishop’s Stort- 
ford, which was ‘trotted out’ by Dr. J. Irving before at least two of 
the sections. In the Essex Naturalist (Vol. X., parts 5 and 6) Mr. E. T. 
Newton, F.R.S., gives good reasons for believing that the remains are those 
of a modern horse, and, apparently, the only point in which Mr. Newton 
agrees with Dr. Irving is that the age of the skeleton is ‘dubious.’ 
The Essex Naturalist for October, 1909, to January, 1910, published 
December, 1910, and received by us on March 18th, 1911, contains an 
interesting paper on some curiously carved bone objects found at Braintree, 
Essex, and elsewhere, by Mr. F. W. Reader. Some of the objects described 
are by no means so rare as Mr. Reader thinks, and were used in connection 
with the old windmills, up to half-a-century ago. In the Hull Museum 
are specimens from mill-sites in Hull, and from Elloughton, East Yorks. 
Naturalist, 
