4 
PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 
that pleased to take shelter at Walton Hall, and the result was very pleasing; he 
had about him birds of the most interesting kinds, whose manners he could thus 
observe. There is much brutality in shooting down birds merely to say how many 
you have destroyed ; but as I have elsewhere urged this at length, I shall not fur¬ 
ther allude to it; and it is fully treated in the Rev. Dr. Drummond’s interesting 
work entitled “The Rights of Animals.” Could the Association be induced to 
undertake the protection I propose, and should it spread (as I fervently hope it 
may), many useful and interesting species of birds, now rare, may, if treated as 
kindly as the robin, become as common. 
DREDGING. 
I would particularly desire to direct the attention of the Association to marine 
dredging, philosophically carried out; it throws light on many difficult geological 
and geographical points. Members of the Association desirous of undertaking 
dredging with these views, can obtain assistance and direction from the reports and 
papers issued by the Dredging Committee of the British Association. With the 
more strictly zoological objects, dredging affords ever varying and delightful occu¬ 
pation ; but, as in all other pursuits, a little practice and the exercise of some judg¬ 
ment is necessary to secure its best results. I have myself paid much attention 
to facilitating the use of the dredge, and have successfully overcome all the diffi¬ 
culties that have presented themselves to me; so that what was, when I first 
attempted it, a heavy labour, not devoid of risk, and uncertain in its results, is now 
a matter of little trouble. There are many things to be attended to in dredging. 
On one occasion a gentleman in the boat with me, of a mechanical turn, thought 
the fitting of the dredge was a bad piece of work; being loose, he diligently 
fastened it; some time elapsed before I found it out, and for that period all our 
labour was vain. Again I was induced to have the dredge nets made of very strong 
whip cord, as an improvement. When this got wet it contracted and twisted 
so much that in some cases the dredge was useless. Mr. Eyton, aware of this 
defect, makes his nets of a twine composed of a great number of threads very 
loosely twisted together. My last improved dredge has the knives parallel, the 
arms about the length of the knives, and connected together by a chain as long as 
one arm. The whole is galvanized, and thus the destruction caused by rust to the 
net prevented. 
EXCURSIONS. 
As to one of the most pleasing prospects of our Association, I look forward to 
excursions of its members. My avocation hitherto has much interfered with 
my taking part in such things; but I have been sometimes so indulged, and I 
can recall with great gratification the pleasure they afforded, and can testify to 
their value in the communication of knowledge. I have found, speaking of my¬ 
self, that I was enabled to ask for information from, probably, the best authority, 
and to seek explanation of difficulties with a freedom which a more formal 
meeting would not permit. In fact, I could there get over the fear of showing 
my ignorance, and such fear is one of the greatest drawbacks in the acquire¬ 
ment of knowledge. 
The excursions of the Berwickshire Naturalists’ Club, of the classes of the pro¬ 
fessors of Botany, of the Linnean Society, and of the sections of the British Asso¬ 
ciation, have always been of the most delightful interest, highly conducive to 
intellectual progress, and to the cultivation of social friendships. I have often 
desired leisure for writing plans of such excursions round Dublin. I think it 
would be advisable, with this view, that the Association undertook to collect ma¬ 
terials. We have many local lists; but what we want is a guide to show where, 
how, and when, we should look to find the objects of our study in their native 
habitats. It is true that when a good practical naturalist joins a party on an 
excursion in a district which he well knows he is able to point out much to 
interest his companions; but what I want is such a guide as will enable the 
young naturalist to go and train himself when he cannot have help from others. 
Solitary rambles are, when employed in natural history, very instructive. 
I recollect when I was but a child the many delightful days I spent in ex¬ 
amining animals on the shore, and I am conscious of having at that time seen 
