59 

 YORKSHIRE NATURALISTS' UNION 

 VERTEBRATE SECTION. 



Two successful and well-attended meetings were held in the Leeds In- 

 stitute on November i8th. 



Prior to the General Meeting of the Section, the Committees of the 

 Wild Birds' and Eggs' Protection Act, and the Mammals, Reptiles, Am- 

 phibians and Fishes, met. 



At 3-30 p.m. the chair was taken by Mr. Oxley Grabham, M. A., M.B.O.U., 

 and the various sectional recorders' reports were read. 



In connection with the election of otficers for 1912, several recommend- 

 ations were made for the annual meeting of the Union at Heckmondwike. 



The general and financial reports of the Yorkshire Wild Birds' and 

 Eggs' Protection Acts Committee were presented ; the continued pro- 

 gress and the financial position was satisfactory, thanks to several 

 generous subscribers. 



The report of the Mammals, Reptiles, etc.. Committee was read, and a 

 revised official list was passed for recommendation at the annual meeting 

 of the Union. 



After an adjournment for tea, the evening meeting was commenced 

 by an exhibition of specimens. Mr. W. Hewitt exhibited a case containing 

 two weasels — one the normal type, and an albino variety, which occurs 

 very infrequently with this species, in marked contrast to its near relative 

 the Stoat. 



A communication from Mr. Musham was also read relative to the 

 nesting of the Water Vole, several nests of which had been found in north 

 Lincolnshire during the summer, in high and dry places, and built of reed 

 and sedge pith. 



Mr. Sydney Smith confirmed the occurrence from his own observations 

 on Skipwith Common, and surprise was expressed that such a course 

 should have been necessary during the abnormally dry summer. A 

 probable explanation is that the absence of water in many of the hitherto 

 inaccessible swamps and ditches has led to the discovery of what may be 

 after all, no unusual habit. 



Mr. F. Edmondson, of Keighley, exhibited a small specimen of the 

 Smaller River Lampern taken in the river Aire. Mr. G. Parkin, of Wake- 

 field, shewed beautifully mounted specimens of a variety of the Meadow 

 Pipit, taken near Wakefield ; a variety or hybrid of the Black Rat, which 

 suggested close relationship to the Brown Rat. Also specimens of the 

 Short-tailed Field Vole and Red-backed Vole, and various nests of the 

 Long-tailed Field Mouse, shewing the usual type in contrast to adaptations 

 of Whitethroats' nest to which a dome had been added. 



JNIr. A. Haigh Lumby read a short paper on ' Distribution of Birds 

 relative to Migration.' 



Mr. Riley Fortune, F.Z.S., read a paper entitled ' Notes on British 

 Deer,' deahng in an interesting manner with the antecedents, life-history, 

 structural peculiarities, habits, etc., of the Red, Fallow and Roe Deer, the 

 lecture being illustrated by a fine set of slides. Mr. T. M. Fowler gave a 

 paper, ' Glimpses into Bird Life,' illustrated with lantern slides, depicting 

 his close acquaintance and photographic experiences with several very 

 wary birds. 



Mr. Oxley Grabham, M.B.O.U., on ' Yorkshire Fresh-water Fishes,' 

 also illustrated by the lantern, gave an instructive and racy address on 

 our county's species most interesting to the angler. 



Mr. H. B. Booth, M.B.O.U., shewed a few sUdes of the recent fish 

 victims in the River Wharfe, near Ilkley, destroyed by an accidental 

 overflow from the gasworks on October 15th, 191 1.* 



Mr. A. Haigh-Lumby shewed about fifty slides of various natural 

 history subjects, illustrating the possibilities and limitations of vest- 

 pocket camera work in this direction. — A. H. L. 



* See 'Naturalist,' Nov. 1901, page 37. 



igi2 Feb i. 



