REPORT OS' FIELD MEETINGS, 275 



bird is probably not quite so rare in the north as is usually 

 supposed ; at least one other nest was known in the district 

 last spring in Gibside woods, while the bird itself was seen 

 near Wooler, and abundant traces of it in the woods at 

 Chillingham. The party was met by Mr. Richardson near 

 his residence, and conducted over the gardens and extensive 

 vineries and greenhouses. In one of these he had a collection 

 of fragments from the remains of an ancient iron smelting 

 furnace, to which the party was conducted later, a descrip- 

 tion of which is given in the accompanying paper by Mr. 

 Richardson. After a ramble through the woods the company 

 was entertained to tea, and then departed homewards after a 

 most enjoyable afternoon. 



Altogether, the Field Meetings for the year 1904 have been 

 an improvement upon those of recent years. With the excep- 

 tion of the August meeting, we were favoured with delightful 

 weather, which is always an important factor in an outdoor 

 meeting ; but the very fact of nine members turning up in such 

 a day as that experienced in the Dilston woods by Devil's 

 Water, is even more emphatic testimony in favour of Field 

 Meetings than crowded attendances on fine days. So long as 

 members are prepared to face the discomforts of such a day 

 as that there is not much danger of the love of natural history 

 pursuits falling into abeyance, and it augurs well for the future 

 of the Society. 



In conclusion, I wish to call attention very briefly to a 

 subject which I think deserves some attention from the Natural 

 History Society. We are fortunate in having in the Trans- 

 actions of the Society at least two very complete Floras of 

 Northumberland and Durham, one by N. J. Winch, published in 

 1831, with an appendix bringing it down to 1836, and another 

 by Mr. J. G. Baker, published in 1868, and forming Vol. II. 

 of the last series of Transactions. Included in these volumes 

 are many plants which even in those days were rare, some of 

 which are now probably extinct, in the two counties. No 

 doubt much has been done during the interval by the Tyne- 



