president's address. 117 



we are forcibly reminded of the great loss which we have so 

 recently sustained by the death of Mr. Richard Howse, M.A., 

 who, as one of our original members, served on our first 

 Committee, and who in 1876 was elected as my colleague in 

 the secretaryship of the Club. This is neither the time nor 

 the place for detailing his eminent services. These, I trust, 

 may fittingly be enlarged upon hereafter by those better able 

 to do justice to his character and attainments as a naturalist. 



By the death of Dr. Dennis Embleton our Club has been 

 deprived in the past year of one of its most conspicuous 

 figures. Our Transactions have been from time to time en- 

 riched by contributions indicating the many-sided character 

 of his activities, and including his important papers on the 

 phenomena of the structure and varieties of eggs, and on the 

 place-names of Teesdale. But at this time we chiefly recall 

 his memory in association with the group of distinguished and 

 accomplished men to whom this Club owes its origin. 



And we have to deplore the yet further loss sustained by 

 the death of our Honorary Treasurer, Mr. W. E. Branford. 

 At our meeting in July last he formed one of the party in our 

 visit to Corby, when, as at all times, his genial presence was 

 cordially welcomed. A lover of country life in general, and 

 especially interested in ornithology, he possessed a knowledge 

 of the characters and habits of birds which rendered his 

 companionship in our field work interesting in the highest 

 degree. Of the services to the Club in his official capacity 

 it is only necessary to say that they were the outcome of the 

 zeal and interest manifested by him from first to last in pro- 

 moting its welfare. He became a member in 1865. 



It is but to record a general feeling to say that we are all 

 of us the poorer to-day by this threefold loss to our ranks. 



Following the example of my predecessors I would now add 

 a few notes, which I shall endeavour to lay before you in the 

 form of a more or less connected narrative of the various 

 circumstances, and as these include some hitherto unrecorded 



