MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. 427 
however, did much good in eating the seeds of the wire-weed. 
Poisoning kills more Sparrows and Finches than Larks, which eat 
very little grain. 
Mr. Murphy said that Larks could be easily netted, and formed 
good food. 
The President agreed that the birds did much more good than 
harm, but thought that natural checks to their increase should be 
introduced. The Hobby and the Merlin were the only hawks that 
would catch Larks, the former lived chiefly on them. The Kestrel 
ate field mice and grasshoppers, and occasionally birds, but would 
not do much good. All these three were long-winged falcons that 
lived in the open, and took their prey on the wing; they would 
not do any harm, as they never frequented trees or hedges, and 
were too small to kill game. They would not kill native birds or 
Sparrows that frequented trees. The natural enemy of the Spar- 
row was the Sparrow hawk, a short-winged hawk that hunted hedge 
and trees. These birds might occasionally kill a young chicken 
or duck, but would do far more good than harm. The native 
hawk was a harrier, that could catch neither Larks nor Sparrows ; 
it was quite useless as a check on the small birds. The Morepork 
was also useless for such a purpose. 
Mr Hogben pointed out the importance of observations, scien- 
tifically made, on the food of birds. 
Dr. Symes thought very important information had been elicited 
as to the bad effects of poisoning and the advantage of introducing 
hawks. He thought that the sparrow clubs encouraging egg taking 
had a bad effect on boys. 
Christchurch, 5th April, 1883.—Professor F. W. Hutton, Pre- 
sident, in the chair. 
New members—J. A. Newell and W. Ives. 
Papers—(r1) On the “Artesian Waters of Christchurch,” by 
Mr. G. Gray. He said that the subject might be considered under 
three heads—its quality, its source, and the extent of the supply 
and the conditions affecting the same. His own remarks would 
be mainly on the quality of the water. He had collected and 
analysed twelve samples of artesian water from different parts of 
town. The result was highly satisfactory. The waters stood high 
in quality when compared with Wanklyn’s scale, according to which 
waters of great organic purity were those yielding from ‘oo to ‘o5 
parts albuminoid ammonia per million; 11 of the samples came 
under this category, and the other was what was classed as a safe 
water, containing ‘06 of albuminoid ammonia per million. The 
water was also shown to be of remarkable purity when tested by 
Professor Tidy’s scale for determining the oxygen required to 
oxidise the organic matter contained therein. The samples had 
also been tested for putrescent matter by being exposed in a closed 
bottle to a temperature of 80deg. Fahr. tor four days. Only one 
sample—which had been procured from the east side of the city— 
gave any indications ot such matter, and that only in a very slight 
degree. With one exception the samples were remarkably clear 
and free from sedimentary matter. The reaction of the water was 
slightly alkaline, and it appeared to be wellerated. As with most 
soit waters it possessed a corrosive action on the iron vipes. This 
