Mountain at all seasons, but, otherwise, the higher parts are nearly devoid of bird life. About three or four pairs of ravens meet yearly in the Mountain, chiefly, I believe, in the Cwm Serré Cliffs immediately to the north-east of the highest summit. This precipice is about 600 feet high, and affords these fine birds a retreat quite secure from molestation. They also breed yearly in a precipitous ravine on another side of the Beacons, generally in an inaccessible spot. I once, however, found a nest to which I was able to climb; it contained five eggs. Three of these I took for my collection. The buzzard is to be seen occasionally in Cwm Serré, and a few years ago a nest of this bird was found in a cliff."

Mr. J. C. Mansel Pleydell, the learned president of the Dorset Field Club, in his admirable "Birds of Dorset," mentions the raven as still lingering in some of the sea cliffs of that county, but a few days ago we heard that in the remarkably tall trees growing on the top of Badbury Rings, the famous encampment near Wimborne, and not many miles from the busy towns of Poole, Wimborne, and Bournemouth, the raven regularly nests, and has done so this year, though our informant added that the nest, containing five eggs, was takenthat goes without saying.

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"The raven," says Mr. Pleydell, is another bird which has become nearly extinct through persistent persecution. Fifty years ago it used to breed in the cliffs of St. Alban's Head and Gadcliff. Several were often seen together soaring over the cliffs above Kimmeridge, uttering their ominous croak. In 1865 Mr. Harting noticed its occurrence near Lulworth, where there was a brood reared in Swyre Cliffs in April of that year. A pair have frequented the Whatcombe Woods for the last two years, and I hope to hear of their breeding. A pair of these birds showed much precautionary skill in stealing the eggs of sea fowl from the perpendicular cliffs of Ballard Down, near Swanage. While one stood as sentinel on a commanding eminence, the other swooped below, and after taking an egg returned with it in its bill to its companion. Both then flew out of sight, and after a short interval returned to repeat the same tactics. This was observed several times in an afternoon."

In reply to our inquiries, Mr. Mansel Pleydell has just sent us a most interesting note. "I fear," he observes, "the nesting places of the raven no longer occur within the boundaries of the county of Dorset. The free and general use of guns, aided by the achievements of the gamekeeper, has annihilated it with many other birds familiar in the days of my youth. The few and far between croaks now heard, as the bird passes aloft, come from migrants, which, as in Noah's day, went forth and returned."

All large and noble birds are relentlessly persecuted, and few can long escape in thickly-peopled regions. It is a comfort to hear, on good authority, that the kite still lingers in Breconshire or Radnorshire, where it is carefully preserved, but as it is reduced to three or four pairs, and the stragglers are pitilessly slaughtered by so-called bird fanciers, its residence in that district is not likely to last many years, and when a pair nests in another neighbourhood it is soon destroyed and its eggs taken.

We think we have said enough to show that the present volume is equal to its predecessors, and that it contains some superior articles and reports of general interest, while even those parts of the book relating to the Woolhope Club proper, are certain to have many attentive readers, and to be carefully treasured up for future reference.

S. U. M

Woolhope Naturalists' Field

APRIL 5TH, 1895.

Club.

THE Annual Meeting was held in the Woolhope Club Room on Friday, April 5th, 1895, when the following were present:-Mr. James Davies, the retiring President, Rev. M. G. Watkins, the President-elect, and the following members: The Revs. J. O. Bevan, A. J. Capel, W. S. Clarke, Preb. Wm. Elliot, E. R. Firmstone, C. S. Hagreen, Preb. W. H. Lambert, H. B. D. Marshall, and M. Marshall, Dr. T. A. Chapman, Messrs. H. C. Beddoe, J. Carless, R. Clarke, G. Davies, T. Hutchinson, T. D. Morgan, O. Shellard, H. G. Sugden, H. Vevers, H. C. Moore, Hon. Secretary, and James B. Pilley, Assistant Secretary.

The Financial Statement, presented by the Treasurer, Mr. H. C. Beddoe, showed a balance in hand of £8 11s. 11d., with assets £8 for arrears of subscriptions due, and liabilities £10 8s. for printing.

The Report of Mr. James B. Pilley, Assistant Secretary, showed that there were 227 Members of the Club in 1894. There were two deaths-those of Judge Cooke, who died October 20th, and Mr. C. G. Martin, who was President of the Club in 1885, who died on April 20th. There were five resignations. Twenty-six Members were elected in the course of the year. The income received was £121, against £104 in the year 1893. More than fifty Members attended the Field Meetings at Bosbury and Caerleon, and about 120 attended on the Ladies' Day at Church Stretton.

RECORDS OF RARE FACTS.-Dr. John H. Wood reported the occurrence of the Black Redstart (Ruticula titys) in the month of January at Canon Frome Court; it was either a male or young female. It entered the house, and was captured and placed in a cage with the object of being identified, and unfortunately was found dead the following morning.

Dr. Wood also recorded a Horn-beam at Stoke Edith, opposite the hamlet of Perton, on the right-hand side of the lane to the Pigeon House, scarcely forty yards from the main road. A mistletoe was growing upon the tree. This is a new record not only for this parasite on the Horn-beam, but also a new locality for the tree not recorded in The Herefordshire Flora.

Dr. Wood also reported Mistletoe on other trees, of which a notice will be preserved in the minutes of the Club.

Mr. James B. Pilley gave information proving that many clutches of eggs of wild birds had been taken in this county. There has been, however, no complaint in Herefordshire of systematic destruction of birds, such as has occurred in Glamorganshire, nor are there, as in that County, regular nesting places of species. The Glamorganshire County Council has obtained an order protecting the eggs of

the goldfinch and kingfisher, and the Cardiff Naturalists' Society has appointed a sub-committee to consider whether an effort should be made to protect the eggs of any other birds.

Mr. James Davies, in his address as retiring President, stated that at their last Quarterly Meeting on January 12th, the Herefordshire County Council had referred this subject to the Agricultural Committee, agriculturists being those chiefly interested in the preservation of bird life. Mr. Frank James, a member of the Woolhope Club, is exerting himself on behalf of our friends-the birds--and we have every confidence in evoking a greater amount of sympathy for them after the terrible experiences the survivors from the severe frosts of last February have undergone. Whilst upon this subject, the attention of members is drawn to a very sensible letter from Mr. Cordeaux on the Bird Act, to be found on page 468 of the Field for April 6th, in which he writes of the indiscriminate selection and scheduling of such birds as need no protection.

The dates and places appointed for the Field Meetings were as follows:May 28th, Tuesday, Wroxeter (Uriconium) and the Shrewsbury Museum ; June 28th, Friday, Wapley Camp, between Titley and Presteign; July 23rd, Tuesday, Ladies' Day, Forest of Dean, Speech House, &c.; August 30th, Friday, Caerwent, Caldicot Castle, the Severn Tunnel Pumping Works at Portskewett, ⚫ near Chepstow.

A report was given respecting the Archæological Map of the county. After three years' assiduous attention to its preparation, for which the Club is chiefly indebted to our retiring President, Mr. James Davies, and to Rev. J. O. Bevan, the map is at present in the hands of the Society of Antiquaries, where it is undergoing careful scrutiny and revision by Mr. Haverfield.

At this Meeting circulars and schedules were distributed amongst the Members on the subject of the Ethnographical Survey of the United Kingdom, in pursuance of whose objects a Committee, delegated from the Society of Antiquaries, the Folk-lore Society, the Dialect Society, and the Anthropological Institute, has been appointed by the British Association. It proposes to record for certain typical villages and the neighbouring districts:-1. Physical types of the inhabitants. 2. Current traditions and beliefs. 3. Peculiarities of dialect.

4.

Monuments and other remains of ancient culture. 5. Historical evidence as to continuity of race. The villages or districts suitable are such as contain not less than a hundred adults, the large majority of whose forefathers have lived there so far back as can be traced. Any member interested in this subject and disposed to pursue it, should communicate with our Honorary Secretary, Mr. H. C. Moore, who will point out the lines upon which the British Association are proceeding in their investigation thereof.

Other miscellaneous business of the Club having been transacted, the proceedings terminated with the Retiring Address of Mr. James Davies, President in 1894.

THE FROST OF JANUARY AND FEBRUARY, 1895.

THE severe and prolonged frost of the early part of this year deserves to be recorded.

Its severity will be understood by the readings of the thermometer on the two coldest nights, February 8th and 9th, at the Graig, Ross, as taken by Mr. H. Southall, viz. :-4.5 and 4'4 degrees respectively at four feet from the ground, with a temperature of 3 degrees on the grass.

As regards duration : the frost set in on January 22nd, attained severity on January 26th, and was prolonged nightly without a break until March 8th, but with less severity from February 19th.

Details of the frost, and its general effects upon vegetation, &c., will be given by our meteorological observer, Mr. H. Southall. There are, however, new lessons of a practical nature for which we have not been hitherto prepared. Throughout the kingdom fractures of water pipes, services to houses, and even of mains laid at a depth of more than three feet have occurred. The trials of citizens and of the water departments have been severe, and the damage in large cities has amounted to several thousand pounds. From the published statistics in Birmingham it is stated that none of the mains above six inches in diameter sustained injury, and the central districts were less affected than suburban localities. We deduce the lesson that bursts were less due to the depths of the mains than to arrested circulation of the water, where the main has, within a short distance, been less than two feet from the surface.