298 [Proc. B.N.F.C., 



apothecia, and by the number, shape, and colour of their spores. 

 There are about two thousand species and varieties of these 

 plants already known in Great Britain, Ireland, and the Channel 

 Islands. The reader concluded his paper by referring to the use 

 of lichens for domestic and medicinal purposes, their geogra- 

 phical distribution, and their distribution in altitude. The 

 paper was illustrated and explained by specimens of lichens 

 collected about Holywood, and some which the reader had got 

 from England and Wales ; and a few very fine plants were 

 shown by Mr. R. Lloyd Praeger. A discussion followed, chiefly 

 with regard to the supposed dual nature of lichens, in which 

 the President, Messrs. J. J. Murphy, George Donaldson, and 

 others took part. 



The President then called on Mr. Robert Patterson for his 

 paper on " The Birds of the Bog Meadows." Mr. Patterson 

 began by describing the position and extent of the Bog Meadows, 

 and said that on Saturdays and Sundays they are overrun with 

 men, boys, and dogs engaged in ratting ; on other days the 

 birds are left to themselves. He had been out on the meadows 

 at all times and seasons, and what he proposed to bring under 

 the Club's notice was the observations he had made, extending 

 over several years. Even in the limited time at his disposal he 

 had observed upwards of sixty different species of birds on the 

 Bog Meadows, and further search would probably reveal more. 

 The birds are as follow : — Missel-thrush, song-thrush, redwing, 

 fieldfare, blackbird, stone-chat, whin-chat, robin, whitethroat, 

 golden-crested wren, willow-wren, wood-wren, sedge-warbler, 

 grasshopper-warbler, hedge-sparrow, great tit, blue tit, wren, 

 pied wagtail, grey wagtail, meadow-pipit, swallow, martin, sand- 

 martin, greenfinch, house-sparrow, chaffinch, bullfinch, linnet, 

 twite, lesser redpoll, yellow-hammer, reed-bunting, starling, 

 magpie, jackdaw, rook, skylark, swift, kingfisher, cuckoo, barn 

 owl, long-eared owl, merlin, kestrel, sparrow-hawk, heron, 

 bernacle goose, mute swan, wild duck, teal, wigeon, corncrake, 

 water-rail, lapwing, woodcock, snipe, jack-snipe, redshank, 

 curlew, and black-headed gull. Of these sixty-one birds, twenty 



