2l>0 



The Naturalist. 



was Scarthingwell Park, the distance from Church Fenton Station to 

 Scarthingwell being along a level road upon clay. It is only at the 

 Lake at Scarthingwell that the limestone passes upwards in a gentle slope 

 from under the drift, the luxuriance of the wych elm, the red colour of 

 the soil, and other features of the country showing this. The Messrs. 

 Maxwell-Stuart very kindly conducted the party by a short road through 

 the Park to the Dinton Dale quarry, about which there is much that is 

 interesting to students of this system, the beds being numerous and 

 diversified, with partings of marl between them. Some of these were 

 flaggy dolomites nearly approaching lithographic stone, whilst others 

 contained numerous cavities lined with crystallised carbonate of lime 

 similar to that which is so common in the neighbourhood of Pontefract- 

 In a quarry near to the place marked on the map as the Towton Battle- 

 field, on the right-hand of the road between Saxton and Towton, a good 

 many of the pieces were found to resemble, on a rough examination, the 

 rocks of the oolitic system, being formed in numerous small pellicles like 

 the roe of a fish, but on closer examination many were found to be hollow, 

 and it does not appear to have been formed in the same way as the true 

 oolites have been. The Huddlestone quarries are so well known, that 

 the specimens from them scarcely require description. It forms a good 

 building stone (which the stone from the other two quarries do not), and 

 presents a good appearance. The other party started from Micklefield 

 and worked by way of Ledstone and Ledsham. They were successful in 

 finding several fossils which, excepting the Axinus, are not common in 

 the district. They found an internal cast of a Phynconella, a specimen 

 of Littorinella, and a piece of flint in a bed of limestone six inches thick, 

 near to Ledsham Church. For the Vertebrate Section its secretary, Mr^ 

 James Backhouse, jun., York, reported that 26 resident birds were 

 observed, and 18 migrants, whilst 22 species were found nesting. The 

 Scarthingwell Park pond forms a great attraction for wild birds, of which 

 were noticed herons, coots, and water-hens in fair abundance. The reed- 

 warbler breeds annually in the reeds by the water's edge, but no birds could 

 be identified. This is probably (with one exception) the most northerly 

 limit of ifcs breeding range in England. Amongst the migrant birds noted 

 were two not seen on the last excursion — the garden warbler and spotted 

 flycatcher. A very curious nesting-place was discovered for the song- 

 thrush : growing against the trunk of a tree was a huge fungus, forming 

 a solid ledge, and upon this the nest was placed ; whilst immediately 

 above was another fungoid growth which served as a dome or roof. The 

 nest being empty, was conveyed to Sherburn, and shown at the evening 

 meeting. Amongst the fishes, pike, roach, and trout were noticed ; and 

 water shrew, common shrew, squirrel, and hedgehog amongst the 

 mammals. — The meeting closed with a vote of thanks to the president for 

 his services in the chair, proposed in a humorous speech from Mr. 

 Barwell Turner, F.C.S., Leeds, and seconded by Major Thompson. 

 —W.D.R, W.E.C. 



