133 [Vol. xxxiii. 



"1. Birds as Nectar-eaters. 



"While in Africa I made a number of observations 

 (embodied in a paper read before the Linnean Society on 

 the 5th of March) on Weavers, Waxbills, Whydah-birds, 

 Warblers of three genera, a Shrike, an Oriole, Bulbuls, and 

 other birds which were seen to visit flowers in such a manner 

 as probably to aid in their pollination. My observations 

 support Fritz M tiller's statement that the more specialized 

 flower-visitors (such as Sun-birds, Humming-birds, etc.) are 

 by no means the exclusive, or always the chief agents in the 

 cross-fertilization of ornithophilous flowers. On the other 

 hand, in many cases short cuts were taken to the nectaries, 

 particularly by individual birds. I exhibit various flowers, 

 showing damage of this kind done by Sun-birds and 

 Whydah-birds, and, amongst British birds, by Blue Tits 

 and by a captive Bullfinch. The Tits were observed to visit 

 mature flowers, evidently for their nectar ; the Bullfinch 

 preferred the young buds, of which it ate the ovaries. 



" 2. Damage to a Brick Wall, apparently by Birds. 



" I exhibit a photograph showing a brick wall with the 

 bricks greatly, and apparently freshly, hollowed out, while 

 the far softer plaster between remained practically intact. 

 House-Sparrows were actually seen pecking at the bricks 

 apparently in search of grit." 



Mr. A. F. Griffith exhibited two examples of the Black- 

 headed Bunting, which were believed to have been taken 

 in a wild state in the British Isles, and a British-killed 

 specimen of White's Thrush. He also exhibited a curious 

 pied-specimen of the Common Meadow-Pipit. 



1. Black-headed Bunting {Emberiza melanocephala) . 



An adult male caught in mature plumage near Halifax, 

 December 1910. James Hamilton, of Hopwood Lane, 

 Halifax, secured the bird and sold it a few days afterwards 

 for five shillings to Major Johnson, of Melrose House, Hove, 



