REPORT. 
136 
Winter social evenings, at which papers were read on subjects in 
natural science, interspersed with music, proved very attractive. 
It has been decided to keep a record of “ first appearances” within a 
prescribed area around the district, and Mr. Ernest A. Nash has been 
entrusted with the registration of the same. 
Mr. F. Primrose Stevenson has very kindly offered a prize for which 
it has been proposed to compete by an essay on the work of Gilbert 
White. 
There is a small balance in hand after paying the annual tithe to the 
hon. treasurer. 
Croydon and Norwood. — This branch reports a steadily increasing 
membership. 
The work of the year has been principally of an educational ten- 
dency. A series of varied lectures have been delivered under the aus- 
pices of the Society at meetings of local societies and institutes. Lec- 
tures have been delivered by Mr. F. W. Ashley, F.Z.S., at Swansea 
Hall, on January 16, and Moffat Road Schoolroom on March 19, on 
“Birds and Snakes — are they related?” and “Our Fields and Wood- 
lands.” 
An interesting drawing-room meeting was held on March 5 at The 
Cedars, by kind permission of Mrs. Perry, when Mr. Perry exhibited his 
collection of natural history objects. 
The hon. secretary of the branch, Mr. E. A. Martin, F.G.S., lectured 
on November 12 on “A Chat about Coal,” at West Croydon Hall, and 
on April ii on “ Great Britain under an Ice-cap” at the Thornton Heath 
Polytechnic ; also to the children of the West Croydon Band of Hope on 
“ English Snakes,” on February 17. 
The Committee would wish that every member of the branch would 
become an active worker in some field or other connected with the 
Society’s objects. 
Projects are on foot for obtaining an order under the Wild Birds’ Act 
of 1894, but the Borough County Council are hesitating in the matter, 
and valuable time is being lost. 
On February 20 a large and interesting assemblage of natural objects 
was brought together in Thornton Heath. The occasion was a united 
meeting of the Local Social Guild and the Selborne Society of Croydon 
and Norwood. The evening had been aptly termed a “ Museum Even- 
ing,” and it is much to be regretted that such a collection could not 
remain permanently on view. 
The Rev. F. E. J. Bird, President of the Guild and a Vice-president 
of the local .Selborne Society, opened the evening in a short speech of 
welcome to those present, and expressed his thanks to those who had 
contributed to the furnishing of the hall on the occasion. 
Mr. E. A. Martin, F.G.S., local hon. secretary of the Selborne 
Society, then described in some detail many of the exhibits. 
Mr. .-Mfred Wright, of Thornton Road, had been good enough to 
send a number of cases of birds, which were particularly interesting on 
account of their having been obtained in the neighbourhood. 
