president's addkess. 339 



On the banks of the Coquet the Enchanter's Nightshade was 

 in flower in great abundance. 



It was my misfortune, owing to a lapse of memory which I 

 very much regret (the notice of the meeting having been issued 

 with that of the previous meeting), not to be present at the 

 FoTJETH Field Meeting of the Club, which was held at Twizell 

 House and Belford on Monday August 3rd (Bank Holiday). I 

 have been kindly furnished by Mr. Howse with the following 

 minutes of the meeting. 



"About thirty members and friends started from the Central 

 Station, Newcastle, by the 8.20 a.m. train on that day, and 

 alighted at the Lucker Station, where they were met by George 

 Bolam, Esq., who most obligingly acted as guide during the day. 

 The weather was unsettled, and heavy showers fell at intervals. 

 Passing along green lanes the party walked through the grounds 

 of Adderton Hall, where two fine examples of the Walnut tree, 

 covered with fruit, attracted attention, from the rarity of this 

 tree in this northern latitude. Eeaching the main North Road, 

 a sharp short walk southward brought the party to the entrance 

 gate to Twizell House. The forest of Silver Eirs (almost pri- 

 meval in appearance), of gigantic size and height, and other tall 

 coniferous trees, gave delight to the dwellers on the lower parts 

 of the Tyne, where smoke and chemical fumes have destroyed 

 all luxuriant growth of tree and shrub and flower. A walk of 

 half a mile through this magnificent wood (almost in a state of 

 nature) led to an open park, on the north side of which stands 

 Twizell House — the House of Selby, the learned author of a 

 large work on British Ornithology, an early member of the 

 Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham, and New- 

 castle-on-Tyne, and contributor of a Catalogue of Birds to the 

 first volume of the Society's Transactions in 1831, and one of 

 the first members of the Berwickshire Naturalists' Eield Club 

 more than fifty years ago. The Selby Collection of Birds, the 

 original MSS., and many drawings of Natural History objects 

 are still preserved in the hall, which, through the kindness of 

 the present resident, George McLeod, Esq., and Mr. Bolam, the 



