124 president's address. 



in the sun, but on two occasions I have met with them in the 

 water. The first of these was when I was a school boy, and 

 with others was fishing for trout in Blaydon Burn. I supposed 

 I had secured a good-sized eel under a stone, and so pressed 

 it as hard as possible. Judge of my surprise when landing it 

 to find I had taken a viper, but I got no harm and carried 

 it home in triumph. The second I saw swimming near 

 Lannercost Abbey, where I also caught a specimen of the 

 Miller's Thumb, or River Bullhead, now in the Hancock 

 Museum. 



Another most unexpected, and to me most wonderful sight, 

 never to be forgotten, occurred in May, 1889, when in crossing 

 the Bay of Biscay I witnessed about twenty whales of various 

 sizes all in sight at once on either side of our ship. The 

 largest seemed to be at least forty feet in length, and a few 

 appeared to be at no greater distance than fifty yards from the 

 vessel. 



A pair of honey buzzards, it may be mentioned, bred in 

 Gibside in 1899. In the same year I got the seven eggs of a 

 water hen, which had used an old magpie's nest on a fir tree 

 forty feet from the ground. 



In recording these casual observations I have already 

 exceeded the limits of my original intention, and have greatly 

 trespassed, I fear, upon your indulgence. Yet I have by no 

 means exhausted the store of incidents from which these 

 random notes have been drawn. I might refer to dotterels 

 seen and shot on Newcastle Town Moor in 1876, three of 

 which are now in my possession, and to many other items, 

 which tempt me to extend the account of my recollections. 

 But I must for the present refrain, and I conclude my remarks 

 with the observation that although much has been done in 

 past years, yet more remains before us. For our field is the 

 vast and practically inexhaustible domain of Nature itself. 



