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THE NATURALIST. 



NoEWiCH Naturalists' Society. 



The usual fortnightly meeting of this 

 society took place on Monday evening, the 

 30th of October, in the room, Surrey MewSj 

 at eight p. m. Mr. J, S. Sayer, the presi- 

 dent occupying the chair. 



After the usual proceedings in opening 

 the meeting, Mr. W. Winter, of Mulbarton, 

 read a very interesting paper on Natural 

 History and Societies. He commenced by 

 giving an account of that delightful pursuit 

 with instructions to the student how he 

 should pursue his enquiries in the various 

 branches of natural history ; not merely 

 with the intention of collecting and classi- 

 fying objects in their natural orders, but by 

 careful investigation, searching out all the 

 minute details and circumstances, con- 

 nected with the general history of each 

 species. However laborious this task may 

 appear to the young beginner at the first 

 outset, he will, by prosecuting with ardour 

 and zeal his enquiries, find the study of 

 nature soon cease to be tedious, and the 

 unravelling its mysteries, will be to him a 

 source of great pleasure and gratification. 

 The immense number of objects spread 

 around everywhere is generally divided 

 into three great departments, viz : — the 

 animal, vegetable and mineral. The two 

 former comprises the organic and animated 

 and the latter the inorganic and inanimate 

 portions of material nature. Natural his- 

 tory taken in its widest signification means 

 the study of the whole creation ; taken in 

 its more restricted sense It is confined to 

 Zoology and Botany ; these are the two 

 most natural of all sciences (if such a term 

 may be applied), they deal with the mate- 

 rial necessities of human life. To pursue 

 the study of Natural History in general, 

 we must enlist into our ranks, the Geolo- 

 gist, Botanist, Entomologist, Ornithologist, 

 Microscopist, and others ; each have their 

 own peculiar working functions, but require 

 the aid of each other in their varied pur- 



suits. Geology may fairly claim the first 

 and foremost rank, it treats of the earth 

 and the various soils and materials it is 

 composed of. Next comes Botany, including 

 the names and classification of plants, and 

 their uses to mankind. Closely following is 

 En tomology , which teaches us the nature of 

 the insect world in all its varied forms. 

 The Ornithologist comes next, giving us 

 the history of the feathered tribes, from 

 the gorgeous bird of Paradise to that 

 minute gem the humming bird. Mr. 

 Winter also gave a brief description of 

 Naim-al History Societies and how they 

 should be conducted. 



After a vote of thanks to the writer, 

 the hon. secretary, Mr. T. Gunn read a 

 paper on the varieties in the plumage of 

 Norfolk birds, commencing by an account 

 of several variations in plumage observed 

 by himself in specimens found in Norfolk, 

 and discussing the theories of various wri- 

 ters for the assumption of these abnormal 

 hues ; he also gave a short notice of the 

 curious plumage of the Euff, Machetes 

 picgnax, during the summer season, scarcely 

 two birds being ever observed alike in the 

 colour and markings of the ruff or frill that 

 surrounds the neck, which varies from a 

 pure white to that of the deepest black, 

 including colours in every variety, chesnut, 

 ochre, ash, grey, and purple. He likewise 

 noticed that when some birds arrive at 

 maturity they change their plumage for 

 that of the opposite sex, illustrated by an 

 instance of the female of the common 

 Pheasant, assuming the x^lumage of the 

 male. He then proceeded to give a list of 

 forty-one species of Norfolk birds, detailing 

 the varieties of each, and their ge- 

 neral colour of plumage. The paper was 

 illustrated by a collection of upwards of 

 forty specimens of variegated birds, includ- 

 ing, black, buff", and white varieties of the 

 skylark, chocolate, buff, and white varieties 

 of the sparrow, cream, and pale-ash co- 

 loured varieties of the Sandmartin, Pooks, 

 Partridges, Blackbirds, Fieldfares, and 

 others. 



