113 
In this account of a bird with which I have been in some measure familiar for 
years, I have refrained from all poetical embellishment, and confined myself entire¬ 
ly to the results of observation ; judging that histories of birds constructed on the 
plan of a fashionable romance are not such as can gratify the taste of the real lover 
of nature. And in truth the realities of existence are much more admirable than 
the creations of the most unbridled imagination. 
ON THE SILURIAN AND OTHER ROCKS OF THE DUDLEY 
AND WOLVERHAMPTON COAL-FIELD,* 
FOLLOWED BY A SKETCH PROVING THE LICKEY QUARTZ ROCK TO BE OF THE 
SAME AGE AS THE CARADOC SANDSTONE. 
By Roderick Imfey Murchison, Esq., F.G.S., V.P.R.S. 
The author having previously shown that the coal-field extending from Dud¬ 
ley into the adjacent parts of Staffordshire is surrounded and overlaid by the lower 
member of the new red sandstone, laid before the Society an Ordnance map, geo¬ 
logically coloured, and then proceeded to give, 1st, A general sketch of the struc¬ 
ture of the coal-field in descending order : 2ndly, Detailed accounts of the Silu¬ 
rian rocks which protrude through the coal measures or lie beneath them: 3rdly, 
A sketch of the quartz rocks of the Lickey: 4thly, A description of the trap 
rocks : 5thly, General remarks upon the dislocation of the stratified deposits; and 
the dependence of these phenomena upon the intrusion of trap rocks. 
1. Coal measures .—In most parts of the productive coal-field the coal mea¬ 
sures are covered by a considerable quantity of detritus, the greater part of which 
has been derived from the breaking up of the new red sandstone which once 
overspread this tract, with which are mixed, especially in the northern part of the 
field, a few boulders of northern origin and some from the surrounding region. 
General and detailed sections are then given of the regular succession of the 
carboniferous strata ; for the greater part of which in the neighbourhood of Dud¬ 
ley, and for much valuable information, Mr. Murchison expresses great obliga¬ 
tion to Mr. Downing ; the best sections of the Wolverhampton field having been 
afforded by Mr. J. Barker. The principal points of novelty consist in drawing a 
* The following Paper, which was read before the Geological Society of London, on the 
11th of May, is published with the permission of the author.—E d. 
Q 
VOL. I. 
