PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. xliii 
The season has been favourable also for many forms of animal life, 
^because, unlike the summer of 1898, the atmosphere has generally 
been clear and bracing, and free from the dampness and closeness 
which are frequently experienced in excessively hot summers. The 
conditions have been particularly favourable to bird life. Those 
birds particularly, such as the blackbird and thrush, which live 
largely on berries and other fruits, have been very abundant. The 
same remark applies to many of the smaller mammals, such as the 
squirrel. 
THE SOCIETY. 
Turning now to what we may call the domestic affairs of our 
Society, some pleasing features of the work of the past session fall to 
be recorded. 
On the invitation of the Committee of the Sandeman Public 
Library, your Council agreed to join with them in issuing a small 
quarterly journal, to be called the ‘‘Perth Library and Museum 
Record.” The primary object of the publication is to bring under 
the notice of the public recent additions to the Library and Museum, 
but it is also intended to have short articles and notes on subjects 
of interest connected with Library and Museum work. To us it is 
particularly gratifying to have the two institutions brought into such 
close touch with each other, as their aims are to such a large extent 
identical, namely, the intellectual advancement of the community. 
Our own Library has received one valuable addition during the 
past summer, namely, 170 volumes, the property of the late Mr. 
Andrew Moffat, formerly Secretary of the Edinburgh Field Club, 
and presented to our Society by his son, Mr. G. L. Moffat, M.A. 
These embrace the works of several of the leading botanists and 
zoologists of the earlier part of this century, and my object in referring 
to them now is to point out the importance of studying any particular 
science from an historical point of view, and of tracing its gradual 
evolution as a department of human knowledge. Our Library, while 
embracing many of the most important recent works of reference in 
natural science, was rather deficient in the earlier scientific classics, 
but the books just presented to us will, to a considerable extent, 
remedy this deficiency, and enable the student, not only to study 
nature by the light of present-day knowledge, but to follow the 
researches of a past generation of workers. 
Another feature of the past session has been the monthly meetings 
of the Photographic Section, for the exhibition and comparison of 
members’ work in certain specified subjects, such as studies of trees, 
flowers, children, old buildings, etc. I think those who have taken 
part in these meetings will agree with me that they have been 
extremely useful in stimulating to more careful work, and in giving 
a definite aim to photographic study. The only disappointing 
feature has been the smallness of the attendances, though many 
members have doubtless a natural reluctance to attending indoor 
meetings on fine summer evenings. 
Turning now to the winter session which has just commenced, 
I would venture to express the hope that the general body of the 
