143 
SELBORNIANA. 
Lost. — On tlie occasion of the Annual Meeting and Con- 
versazione, a lady lost an umbrella. * She would be obliged if the 
finder will return it to Miss Russ, 27, Clifton Hill, St. John’s 
Wood, N.W. 
PuRLEY Beeches Fund. — The Treasurer of the Fund asks 
us to acknowledge the receipt of £\ from “.V Lover of Purley 
Beeches,” who requested that the acknowledgment might 
appear in Nature Notes. Should others of our readers wish 
to subscribe, any contributions would be gladly received by 
Capt. A. Carpenter, The Red House, Sanderstead, Surrey. 
A Nature-Study Museum for School Children. — On 
June 4 a small, unpretentious building, situated in St. George’s 
Recreation Ground, Stepney, was opened as a Nature-Study 
Museum. Such is the e.xcellent result of the arduous efforts on 
the part of Miss Hall, Curator of Stepney Museum. This lady 
has been loyally supported by the members of the Borough 
Council. The Libraries Committee accumulated .^150, and 
with this, and an anonymous contribution of ^loo, alterations 
were effected and the building stocked with a number of the 
commonest forms of living things, such as bees, fish, and other 
animals familiar in our every-day life. The museum is in- 
tended to serve as an object lesson for the school children of the 
district, who will occasionally visit it and be taught the love of 
Nature. 
Sir William Collins, Chairman of the Education Committee 
of the L.C.C., declared the building open, in the presence of a 
gathering over which the Mayor of Stepney presided. Father 
Wainwright, as Chairman of the Libraries Committee, made an 
appeal for ^100 to purchase a lantern and other things necessary 
for the better carrying on of the work. It is to be hoped that 
such an interesting undertaking will find many valiant supporters. 
The Work of the London County Council. — In response 
to a letter from the Council of the Society asking for information 
as to the steps taken by the London County Council for the 
preservation of wild animals, the following letter has been 
received from Mr. G. L. Gomme, the Clerk of the Council : — 
“ With a view to inducing wild birds to visit the parks of 
London, the following steps are taken : (i) grain is provided 
in the parks during the cold winter weather ; (2) small bags 
filled with suet are hung in the trees to encourage titmice and 
other birds ; and (3) at some places small boxes have been 
fixed, on the tops of poles, in which little birds such as robins 
and wrens have, by food being placed for them on the tops of 
the boxes, been induced to build their nests. Cats are prevented 
from reaching the nests, as a smooth metal band is fixed around 
each of the poles at a short distance from the top. 
