134 Yorkshire Naturalists' Union. 



foster brothers and sisters, in spite of the reports of several reliable field 

 naturalists who have witnessed it, and photographed or sketched it whilst 

 in the act. Mr. Parkin would class it with such exploded fallacies as the 

 Goatsucker sucking the udders of Goats, and the stated inability of the 

 Swift to rise from the level ground, etc. He gave many instances where 

 young birds had died because of their stronger and larger fellow nestlings 

 iaeing able to secure the whole of the food, and for other reasons. When 

 dead these young had been cleared out by the parents, and Mr. Parkin 

 suggested that this was generally the most likely explanation of the 

 tragedies which befel the foster brothers of the young Cuckoo. Instances 

 were described where older nestlings were inserted into nests amongst 

 younger ones, to the great detriment of the latter. He commented upon 

 the well-known case containing series of Cuckoos' eggs in the South Ken- 

 sington Natural History Museum, not being in accordance with field 

 observations, as each set contained the full clutch of eggs of the fosterers. 

 A lively and lengthy discussion ensued in which Mr. Parkin's views were 

 greatly combated, and even the ability of the Swift to rise from perfectly 

 level ground was disputed by some speakers. It was evident that we have 

 not heard the last of this argument, and that further field notes and 

 ■experiments on the matter will be made, which is what Mr. Parkin wished 

 should be done, and was the chief object of his paper. 



Professor Patten (the President of the Section), presided at the evening 

 meeting. The Chairman shewed slides distinctly illustrating the scraping 

 by the Lapwing during nest-making, and a curious nest of the Chaffinch 

 showing variation from the type. This nest had been built round the top 

 of a Holly stump, and the building materials were confined to the outer 

 circle of the nest, the centre containing no other foundation than the lining 

 of feathers. 



Mr. W. H. St. Quintin exhibited beautiful slides illustrating the atti- 

 tudes and plumage of the Great Bustards, Cranes, etc., in his aviaries at 

 Scampston Hall. Mr. Riley Fortune, F.Z.S., threw upon the screen a 

 charming series of slides, all taken from life, illustrating the whole of the 

 smaller mammals, reptiles and amphibians inhabiting the county of York, 

 and pointed out the technical differences in species difficult to determine, 

 such as the bats, shrews, voles and newts. 



Mr. Oxley Grabham, M.A., M.B.O.U., showed and described a delight- 

 ful series of pictures illustrating ' Yorkshire Wild Sports,' both past and 

 present. His audience was taken graphically through the intricacies of 

 shooting, flighting, punting and falconry. The two old Yorkshire duck 

 decoys were illustrated, and also old Yorkshire decoy-men and wild fowlers; 

 and the ancient Yorkshire ' sport ' of cock-fighting was illustrated by 

 several birds in full armour, which were celebrated in their day. 



Mr. E. W. Wade, M.B.O.U., brought a most successful meeting to a 

 close by showing a large series of lantern slides illustrating the ' Birds of 

 Bempton Cliffs," which he minutely described, and upon which no one can 

 speak with greater authority. Incidentally he mentioned that at all 

 seasons of the year there is a Wren upon the face of these cliffs, which, upon 

 critical examination, may possibly prove to have developed sub-specific 

 characters after the manner of the St. Kilda Wren. 



H. B. B. 



Part 22 of Hulme's Familiar Wild Flowers (Cassell & Co., 6d.) contains 

 coloured illustrations of the Tansy, Wood-vetch, Sowthistle, Leopard's 

 Bane, Herb-Robert, Woody Nightshade, Corn Cockle and Hearts-ease. 

 Each 'is def:cribed in four pages of letterpress. Part 8 of Sir Robert Ball's 

 Story of the Heavens (6d.), also issued by Cassells, is devoted to descriptions 



of Neptune and Uranus. 



Naturalisft 



