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THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
Ordinary Meeting, Saturday, April 30th, 1887.
The Seventy-seventh Ordinary Meeting was held at the Public Hall, Loughton,
at seven o'clock ; Mr. T. V. Holmes, president, in the chair.
Donations of books and pamphlets for the Library were announced from the
following :—Mr. W. White, Mr. F. Challis, Mr. Miller Christy, The Smithsonian
Institute, the Entomological Society, and the Liverpool Literary and Philosophical
Society. Many parts of "Transactions," etc., had been received in exchange,
and the Librarian announced several additions by purchase.
Messrs. C. B. Bowes, Noel Buxton, and Percy Lloyd, were elected members.
Mr. J. C. Shenstone sent up for exhibition photographs of the British urns
found near Nayland, Suffolk, and 'Wix, Essex, referred to in the Essex
Naturalist, page 35 ante.
The Secretary stated that Mr. N. F. Robarts had called his attention to the
gravel diggings by the road between Chigwell and Abridge. The gravel was a
patch of river-gravel of the Roding ; and from flakes, etc., already found, it was
probable that the grovel would be found to contain specimens of worked flints.
A paper entitled "On Some Essex Boulders," by the Rev. A. W. Rowe, M.A.,
F.G.S., was taken as read : it will appear in an early number of the Essex
Naturalist.
Mr. F. Carruthers Gould then delivered a very interesting and eloquent lecture
entitled "Bird Harmonies in Nature." The chief points treated of in the lecture
were referred to in the syllabus placed in the hands of the members, which was
as follows :—
Harmony between the animate and inanimate parts of Nature—Desolation and
Destruction ; the Mountain and the Eagle—The Moorlands and the Blackcock—
The Loch; Solitude, a harmony in green, grey and silver.
The Woodlands ; the Jay and the Woodpecker—The river sands and marshes ;
Sandpipers and Peewits—In the Fens ; the Bittern—On the Sea Shore—The
cliffs and rocks ; the fishing folk, Cormorants and Gulls.
Night and Day ; the Owl and the Swallow. The Nightingale. Civilisation
and morality amongst birds—their attributes—conclusion.
The lecture was illustrated by several life-size crayon drawings of scenes in bird
life, from the pencil of the lecturer.
A discussion on several points in the lecture was raised by Dr. Cory, the Presi-
dent, Mr. Crouch, Mr. Varley, Mr. W. Cole, Mr. Ridley, and the lecturer; and
a vote of thanks was passed to Mr. Gould.
The President stated that several members who had not paid subscriptions for
periods ranging from two to five years had been struck off the list by the Council
that evening. The names were read out, and the list was ordered to lie upon the
table for the next few meetings, for the information of the members.
Tea and coffee, etc , were served at the close of the meeting, as customary.
Meeting at the British Museum of Natural History, Saturday,
May 7th, 1887.
The members and their friends, to the number of about eighty, assembled in the
Lecture Room, behind the Entrance Hall, of the British Museum of National
History, Cromwell Road, at half-past three o'clock, where they were received by