BY THE KEY. K. F. WHEELER, M.A. 277 



Swallows were not common or martins either. "Willow wrens 

 were plentiful in the spring. 



The following notes of rare birds have been kindly supplied 

 by Mr. John Hancock : — 



The Honey Buzzard was seen at Cresswell on September the 

 24th, 1868 ; the Kose-coloured Paston at Cresswell in August, 

 1868 ; the Roller at Eslington in September, 1868 ; and several 

 specimens of the Little Gull were got on the Durham coast. 



Some further interesting details about insects, in 1868, will 

 be found in Mr. Bold's paper in an earlier page of this volume 

 of Transactions. 



CONCLUSION. 



In drawing this report to a conclusion, the editor cannot but 

 feel that his fellow-labourers in this department of the labours 

 of the Tyneside Naturalists' Field Club will rejoice with him 

 in the steady and rapid advance which Meteorology is making- 

 year by year. The more multiplied the observations are, the 

 sooner will the science become of that great practical utility in 

 the affairs of every-day life which it is destined to be. The 

 efforts of Captain Maury, the late Admiral Fitzroy, Reid, and 

 others, have given an impulse to the study and observation of 

 atmospheric phenomena, and the kindred subject of the theory 

 of ocean currents, which has been productive of the greatest 

 good. 



Before the publication of Captain Maury's charts the average 

 time occupied in a voyage from England to Australia was one 

 hundred and twenty-four days, and the return journey occupied 

 about the same time. A very great reduction in the time occu- 

 pied in the voyage has since taken place, and the editor under- 

 stands that what used to take one hundred and twenty-four 

 days now only occupies ninety-seven on the average, and this 

 passage has been made under canvas alone in sixty-three days.. 

 Part of this saving in time may no doubt be due to imj)roved 



