lviii PROCEEDINGS—PERTHSHIRE SOCIETY OF NATURAL SCIENCE. 
addition to this, the previous frost had frozen the sap of the wood, 
and rendered it particularly brittle. Thus, when the storm swept 
along the valley of the Tay, the frozen and over-burdened upper 
branches had to give way. 
CHILDREN’S ESSAY COMPETITION. 
The only other matter to which I wish to refer, before proceeding 
to the subject of my address, is the Children’s Essay Competition, 
and this I do chiefly for the purpose of recognising the very arduous 
part which our Curator, Mr. Rodger, took in organising the Com¬ 
petition, and especially in giving the children preliminary courses of 
instruction in front of the Museum cases. The thoroughness with 
which the competitors had taken in the lessons thus taught was 
evident when one read through the essays. 
To those who believe that a knowledge of Nature is not the least 
important part of a child’s education, it must be a matter of satis¬ 
faction that so many children in our town and county have given 
evidence of an intelligent interest in the study of animal life, and 
that, not under scholastic compulsion, but from an evident love of 
the subject. In order to show how well the general plan of the 
Museum was grasped, I may quote the following introductory 
sentence from one of the Essays :—“ The Perthshire Natural History 
Museum contains the animals, birds, fish, plants, and rock formations 
which are found in Perthshire and round the Basin of the Tay; but 
the Index Museum contains animals from all parts of the world, in 
order to illustrate the divisions of the animals which are found in 
Perthshire.” This, in juvenile language, is about as good a defini¬ 
tion of the distinction between the two departments as we could 
wish. 
Some of the young students, however, were not content with the 
information which they obtained in the Museum alone, for I know of 
at least one country district in which all the works on Natural 
History, both in the village library and in private collections, were 
“ commandeered ” for this special service. I do not know whether 
Mr. Minto had a similar experience at the Sandeman Library, but, if 
not, perhaps he will take the hint and provide some books on “ Bird 
Life” for his Juvenile Department, in anticipation of a “Raid” 
during the coming season, when “The Legs, Feet, and Bills of 
Birds ” will be the subject of study for the next Essay Competition. 
The conditions will be the same as formerly, and the Essays, which 
are to be illustrated with drawings, must be ready by the end of the 
present year. 
The following is a List of the Prize-Winners for the past 
season:— 
Senior Division (Age 14 and over—8 Essays) 
1 . Christina Cuthbert, Royal Grammar School, Dunkeld. 
2 . 
Malcolm M^illewie, 
do. 
do. 
3- 
Elizabeth H. C. Mackenzie, 
do. 
do. 
4- 
Edith A, H. Macgregor, 
do. 
do. 
