SELBORNE SOCIETY NOTICES 
59 
erroneous idea, however we might wish it were so. I have proved this in all 
ways, in cages, and by watching them most intently for many years at their 
destructive work, and also by shooting them and turning out the contents of 
' their stomachs, and I found only the best buds— or rather the embryo blooms — 
and the tiny fruits. One year I thought my bloom too forward for destruction, 
as it w.as fully expanded, when I turned out nearly a score of bulllinches that I 
had caught during the previous winter, and, to my astonishment, they cleared off 
thousands of blooms by biting olT the flowers at the base and taking just the 
embryo fruit. I have also watched sparrows do so. They will pick out the 
greengage buds from any other sorts of fruits. A few days ago a friend (Mr. 
Hubert Gregory) was with me in my garden when I pointed out a pair of bull- 
finches (most ol them pair in January) on a greengage tree feasting away. I said, 
“ Now watch tliem when I drive them, and they will pass all other kinds to the 
next greengage tree,” which was thirty or forty yards off; and they did so. I 
said, “ Now I will drive them again, and they will fly across the orchard seventy 
or eighty yards to another greengage ; ” and they did so, as hundreds of their kind 
have done for many years past, as if by instinct. 
'Ihe ll'reu’s Nest, Astwood Bank, near Reddilch. J. IIiAM. 
Gulls in a Garden. — At the beginning of February the weather was frosty, 
which turned to sleet and snow : this brought flocks ol gulls and shore feeders 
inland. Many years ago astray gull or two visited a garden in Ulverston, some two 
miles from the shore. The inhabitant of the house led them whenever they came. 
.\ftcr his death the next tenant of the house fed them occasionally, and this 
season, after February i, each day for a week the garden has been full of them. 
They never appear except in very bad weather in winter, and do not visit 
neighbouring gardens. What seems curious is that they are all the common 
gull, Lartts canus L., the black-headed gull not having been seen there. 
Ulverston. S. L. P, 
SELBORNE SOCIETY NOTICES. 
Donations towards the Reduction of the Deficit. — The Council 
acknowledges with thanks the receipt of the following donations : — Mrs. Giberne, 
20S. ; Miss J. Brand, ics. ; Miss E. Brand, los. ; Rev. A. L. Hussey, 4s. ; 
Rev. H. C. Pigou, 5s. ; Admiral Robertson-Macdonald, 2s. 6d. ; Dr. f. C. 
Thorowgood, 5s. ; E. A. Elliott, Esq., 5s. ; Neville Green, Esq., 2s. ; Miss de 
Winton, los. 6d. ; “A Bullfinch,” 2s. ; F. Downing, Esq. , 20s. ; Mrs. R. F. 
Sturge, 2s. 6d. ; Miss Marshall, los. ; Earl of Stamford, £2 ; Northern Heights 
Branch, £\ 5s. 
The following have increased their subscriptions ; — Rev. A. L. Hussey to 
2is. ; C. Leeson Prince, Esq., and Mrs. Silkenstadt to 20s. ; Miss de Winton to 
los. 6d. ; Miss H. M. Dods, Miss J. Brand, Miss E. Brand, Mrs. Jones, R. M. 
Otter-Barry, Esq., Miss Ormerod, Ernest Parke, Esq., Miss Marshall, and J. H. 
Master, Esq., to tos. ; W. E. Milne- Redhead, Esq., to 7s. 6d. 
Council and Committee Meetings : — The next meetings of the Council 
will be held on Tuesdays, March 7 and April 4, at 5.30. The Magazine and 
Leaflet Committee will meet on Tuesday, March 14 and April 18. 
National Photographic Record. — At the request of the Council, Mr. 
R. Marshman Wattson has consented to attend the preliminary meeting called 
by Sir Benjamin Stone, M.P., of representatives of societies interested in the 
movement to piocure photographs of buildings of historical and architectural 
interest. 
Nether Hall Gateway, Roydon. — A small committee has been formed 
to consider the best means of repairing this fine specimen of Tudor architecture. 
The Council has appointed Mr. J. E. Comrie, C.E., to represent the Selborne 
Society. 
Proposed New Branch at Sale, Manchester. — On Monday, January 
16 ^ er, ure was given at Sale, Manchester, by Dr. Graham Renshaw, on Birds 
