RURAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 
85 
been better acquainted with the geography of the country, this 
mistake would never have been made. After showing how geo¬ 
graphy and history should be well attended to, by those 
engaged in dividing a country into political districts, the lecturer 
concluded by remarking upon the influence any given place had 
on its inhabitants’ character. Dwellers in the lone and silent 
fastnesses of the mountains, were prone to superstitious ideas, 
and they were also, of course, the best mountaineers. These 
characters tended to become less marked as roads and railways 
spread over the land. Seaboard towns produced seafaring men, 
as would be at once evident on consulting Fuller’s “ Worthies.” 
and by the fact especially, that, Plymouth had given us the three 
heroes, Drake, Frobisher and Raleigh. 
At the meeting on November 20th, an illustrated paper, on 
“Tin and Lead” will be read by the same gentleman, and on 
December 4th, Mr. G. Masters will lecture on “ Our Garden 
Flowers.” 
Erratum.—In the report of Mr. E. Step’s lecture on toadstools, 
in the November No., the lecturer was stated to have warned his 
audience against buying mushrooms whose gills had turned black, 
as they might under these circumstances prove dangerous. This 
warning, however, was only intended to apply to cases where the 
mushrooms had been bruised and broken up and rendered almost 
unrecognisable. 
RURAL NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 
ROYSTON, CAMBS. 
October 20th : Although we have had but few birds passing 
over, a common Tern of this season managed to find its way here 
and was picked up alive in a very exhausted condition. 
As I have previously remarked this is a curious season, or one 
may almost call it a double season, as so many things have made 
a second growth, and produced fruit and flowers. I picked some 
of the common wild violets this morning. 
October 21st: I have been a bee-keeper for a great many 
years, but have no recollection of seeing drones so late as this. 
I noticed a great commotion at the hives, and to my surprise, I 
found the bees were turning out the drones. 
The Royston or Hooded Crows arrived to-day, three days 
later than usual. 
October 27th: More butterflies about this morning than I have 
seen for a long time; they are like many other things—rather 
out of season. 
October 30th : Field-fares first seen in this locality. 
Nov, rst: A small or pigmean egg of the Red-legged Partridge 
