30 
CORRESPONDENCE . 
SNAKESTONES. 
Professor Myers has sent me an interesting extract from The Naturalist 
for November, 1921, and suggested that I should send you our crest and 
motto. The crest is, of course, adapted from the Whitby one, though I 
personally am sorry we did not leave the snake’s head on it. The motto 
was chosen for us by our Founder, Miss Dorothea Beale, and may allude 
to St. Hilda’s prowess in transforming serpents into ammonites as related 
by the Venerable Bede, as well as to her educational foundations. — (Miss) 
W. H. Moberly (Principal), St. Hilda’s Hall, Oxford, Nov. 14th, .1921. 
WAX WINGS . 
On the morning of the 21st inst., walking around the fields within a 
mile from here, I observed in the distance something unfamiliar in bird 
life — with the aid of my glasses I was at once able to identify the Wax- 
wing, four of them. Approaching nearer, I took up a position to watch 
and for two hours kept a close observation, during the whole of which 
time they were never more than ten yards away, and on several occasions 
coming within a few feet of me. The waxy tips to the secondaries, the 
white on the primaries, and the broad yellow terminal band of the tail' 
feathers of one of them were considerably pronounced, with also darker 
chestnut markings of the forehead and crest, and brighter black throat, 
lores, etc. ; a certain male, and perhaps three females, exceedingly 
tame, taking little or no notice of me ; almost silent, but at times 
uttering a low, plaintive trill. The flight resembles the Starling. They 
appeared to be very active amongst the branches, greedily feeding upon 
the fruits of the Wild Rose, Elder and Hawthorn, apparently favouring 
the first-named , one bird swallowing five hips in quick succession. 
When not feeding, they sat quietly in a small Ash tree with perceptively 
■extended crops, and feathers generally ruffled, excreting continuously, 
after an interval returning to feed and then back again. On the afternoon 
of the same day and during the morning of the following day, I found 
them exactly in the same place going through the same performances. 
The next morning I again visited the site to find a workman repairing a 
fence close, by, the birds disturbed and gone. Being now familiar with 
their note enabled me quickly to locate them a field away. They returned 
to their old feeding ground when the man left his- work.— Sydney H. 
Waterhouse, Sutton-on -Hull, November 23rd, 1921. 
: o : 
An admirable memoir on the late Wheelton Hind, with portrait and 
‘ complete list of scientific papers other than those on medical subjects,’ 
is in The Transactions of the North Staffordshire Field Club, Vol. LV. 
Conquest for November contains a well illustrated article on / Arctic 
Plants and Sea Birds in Spitsbergen,’ by J\ S. Huxley; ‘Volcanoes: 
their Formation and Activities,’ by P. J. Risdon, and many other well* 
illustrated notes of more than general interest. 
The transfer of the Leeds Philosophical Society’s Museum to the 
Corporation has now taken place, and the management is invested in a 
committee of seven appointed by the Society, and a similar number by 
the Corporation. Of this committee, Mr. Edwin Hawkesworth, Hon. 
Treasurer of the Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union, is the chairman. 
Naturalist 
