ANNUAL MEETING. 
12 / 
thought to be a difficulty ; some may have no taste for drawing, 
yet it is wonderful what can be done by those who try, and if 
you can but get them to look carefully at any object before they 
try they will find it not so very difficult after all. 
Mrs. Brightwen remarked upon the unusual tameness at her 
home of many otherwise wild things. Eight or ten squirrels 
came regularly for their breakfast of nuts ; birds built in the 
garden shrubs, and even young foxes came to gambol on the 
lawn. She concluded her remarks by a confident expression of 
opinion that, did the young people but know more about the 
lives and habits of the birds and wild creatures about them, 
they would soon cease to be hard-hearted towards any dumb 
creature, and would not take delight in killing and maiming 
either bird or insect. 
A vote of thanks to Sir William Flower for presiding, and 
for delivering so interesting an address, and also to the ex- 
hibitors and others for contributing towards the pleasure of 
the evening, was proposed by Mr. E. A. Martin, F.G.S., and 
seconded by Mr. William White, and was carried with 
acclamation. 
Around the large hall were arranged a charming series of 
British wild flowers, painted by IMrs. G. E. Marindin, and some 
beautiful water-colours — also of flowers — by Miss Marie Low. 
Mrs. Brightwen — whose address, with other interesting speeches, 
is reported above — brought, amongst other things, a remarkably 
fine drawing of the nest of a nuthatch, also some natural 
history notebooks, kindly lent by Miss Charlotte Mason, founder 
of the House of Education at Ambleside — to whose admirable 
system of nature teaching Mrs. Brightwen wished to draw 
special attention. The living larvae of British dragon flies, sent 
by Mr. R. Marshman Wattson, were most interesting, as 
also was the collection of seaweeds exhibited by Miss F. M. 
Pilkington, the delicacy of form and colour of some specimens 
being very beautiful. Mr. E. A. Alartin exhibited a small but 
very instructive series of fossils, and there were various other 
interesting exhibits illustrative of other branches of natural 
history. 
Upstairs several members of the Quekett and Royal Micros- 
copical Societies kindly placed their microscopes at the service 
of the visitors, and exhibited a series of objects of pond life, the 
wonders of which are invisible to the naked eye. 
Mr. Ravenshaw had charge of the oxy-hydrogen lantern, and 
showed some very pretty views of the village of Selborne, lent 
by Mr. Appleby of the Bath branch. These were followed by a 
most remarkable series of photographs of bird life, taken by Mr. 
Read of the Ealing branch, and Mr. Lodge of Enfield, both of 
whom described not only the subject, but also the means they 
adopted to procure the picture. 
In the large hall a selection of music was given after the meet- 
ing. Mr. Herbert Grover, of the Carl Rosa Opera Company, 
