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VERTEBRATE ZOOLOGY IN YORKSHIRE. 
A Meeting of the Vertebrate Section of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union 
was held at Leeds on February 18th, Mr. S. H. Smith presiding. 
The Sectional Meeting was preceded by a Meeting of the Yorkshire 
Wild Birds and Eggs Protection Acts Committee, Mr. H. B. Booth taking 
the Chair. 
Mr. C. F. Procter gave a paper on ‘ The Pine Marten,’ and said that 
owing to its destructive habits this animal had suffered very severely 
at the hands of the game -preserver, and was now very rarely reported 
in the County. It once had a very wide range in Europe, where .its place 
■yvas now occupied by the Beech Marten, but it was still plentiful in North 
America. In the British Isles it was still found in the Lake District, 
Westmorland, Wales, Scotland and Ireland, perhaps also in North-west 
Yorkshire. 
The lecturer exhibited a stuffed specimen which was killed on the 1st 
of June last, at Barmston, in Holderness. Last May fhe gamekeeper 
in that neighbourhood found many dead rabbits on his rounds, and some 
creature entered his hen-house and killed 14 pullets. It then frequented 
a bank riddled with rabbit holes and was eventually caught in a trap set 
in an artificial tunnel through the bank. 
Mr. H. Pollard gave ‘ Spring Notes among the Birds of Lapland,’ 
illustrated by lantern slides. 
The lecturer arrived at Kiruna on June 2nd. A nest of the Rough- 
legged Buzzard was found in a rocky gully, and many interesting species 
of birds were nesting in the swamps, including the lesser White Fronted 
Goose, Bean Goose, Spotted Redshank, Red Spotted Bluethroat, Lapland 
Bunting and Grey Headed Yellow Wagtail. The Mealy Redpoll and 
Redwing also nested in the district. 
On June 7th, the lecturer left for Gellivari, on the way, near Kara- 
suando, Temminck’s Stint, Ruffs, Pintail, Wigeon, Teal and the Short- 
eared Owl were encountered. The next stage of the journey was up the 
Muonio Elf, the river forming the boundary between Russia and Sweden. 
Near Maunu several nests of the Pine Grosbeak were found, besides those 
of the Whimbrel, Ring Plover, Red Spotted Bluethroat, Wood Sandpiper, 
Lapland Bunting, Red Necked Phalarope, and Hen Harrier. An un- 
availing search was here made for the Bar Tailed Godwit, but nests of 
the Dotterel, Buffon’s Skua and Shore Lark were found and the Willow 
Grouse seen . Many species of duck were flying about, and these the natives 
shot at every opportunity. On the return journey the Long Tailed Duck 
and Snow Bunting were added to the list, and a young Crane in down was 
caught and sent to the British Museum. The lantern slides gave an 
excellent idea of the country, and showed the nests of many of the spOcies 
■encountered. 
At the evening Meeting, Dr. Collinge gave a paper on ‘ The Economic 
Status of Wild Birds,’ illustrated by many diagrammatic lantern slides. 
The lecturer stated that during the last ten years this subject had attracted 
more than usual attention, and during the war we had been face to face 
with the problem of maintaining ourselves on home grown food. The 
feeding habits of wild birds were of the greatest importance from this 
point of view. The problem of rightly estimating the economic status 
of a wild bird was not an easy one, and entailed careful and detailed 
research. Most of our wild birds, are beneficial, and only a very few 
species are injurious ; these latter may be controlled and their injurious 
effects materially lessened by suitable repressive measures. 
The lecturer dealt with the method of estimating the food contents 
•of the stomachs of wild birds, and gave his reasons for adopting the 
volumetric method or percentage by bulk. 
The stomach contents of the Song Thrush were found to average 8q 
insects, which were digested in three to four hours, showing that about 330 
insects are consumed by one bird in an average day, except during the 
Naturalist 
