C6 



HARDWICKE'S SCIEN CE - GO S S IF. 



comparing them with their Indian brethren, there 

 was scarcely any difference distinguishable ; and this 

 is somewhat remarkable, considering that the ditfer- 

 ence between the summer heat of Jersey and England 

 is very slight. In C. hyale and P. daplldice I did 

 not perceive any difference, but A. latlwnia was, 

 like edusa, much darker, and the silver markings 

 underneath were brighter. Throughout the island 

 painted ladies (F. curdui) took the place of whites, 

 and exhibited much variety of colouring, from brown 

 to rose-colour. If I had netted all the whites I saw, 

 I should, no doubt, have taken more specimens of 

 dciplidice, for it is impossible to distinguish between 

 the species while on the wing. This is, no doubt, a 

 wise provision of Providence, to prevent their com- 

 plete extermination. I have read with pleasure the 

 paragraphs which have lately appeared iu Scienc£- 

 GossiP, showing that butterflies settle on objects 

 of a similar colour to themselves, and I can quite 

 endorse the opinions of my friend Mr. E. C. Lefroy 

 ou this point. In Guernsey, for instance, the oak- 

 eggars, which are very common, invariably fly down 

 the shady lanes, and settle on the trunks of trees and 

 other dark surfaces. It is very evident that butter- 

 flies have no eye for a pretty landscape, or, otherwise, 

 we should have more of them in Guernsey, which, 

 small as it is, presents a greater variety of picturesque 

 scenery than the larger island. At any rate, I have 

 nothing uncommon to put down in my list, as, during 

 the whole of my stay, 1 saw nothing worth catching, 

 if I except a few solitary specimens of .S". semele which 

 I occasionally met with. This butterfly may have 

 been more common iu some parts, for it is very local 

 in its habits, and oCten confines itself to a single 

 field, where it may be found in swarms. It is also 

 very partial to hill-sides. I took a good many speci- 

 mens of the Oak-eggar and Jersey Tiger, and one 

 Brimstone butterfly {G. rhamiii), the only one I saw 

 in the islands. Several species of diurnal moths 

 were common in Guernsey and in Sark, which is 

 about six miles distant. S. semele was iu great 

 profusion. As we had sailed out for a picnic, and 

 I did not expect to find any insects ou so small an 

 island, I did not take my net, but I managed to 

 knock down and capture five or six graylings with 

 my hat. I found them to be exceptionably large 

 ?,nd fine. I was told that the green Hair-streak 

 {T. riibi) was very common in the Jersey clover- 

 fields ; but though I was there during the greater 

 part of August, I did not observe a single specimen. 

 El-it illaries (except lathonia) and skippers were as 

 scarce as hair-streaks ; but I caught Alexis, Argiolus, 

 (Egon, and Agestis ; also the commoner Vanessas 

 and browns,— F; H. Booth, Blackheath, S.R 



BiKDS IN Winter.— It may not be unacceptable 

 to some among the readers of Science-Gossip to 

 hear how we are able to watch some of the habits 

 of a few species of birds close by our drawing- 



room window. Eor this purpose there is erected 

 about three yards from the window a tripod, ori- 

 ginally used as support for an archery target, and 

 to the top of this an earthenware pan is suspended 

 by three strings ; this is kept full of hemp-seed, and 

 there is a- continual flow of birds t o it. The most 

 frequent are the tits, of whom we constantly see 

 four species; viz. the Great, Blue, Cole, and xMarsh 

 tits. When no one is watching ihem, the sparrows 

 will come iu great numbers ; but thsy will not be 

 watched nearly so freely as the tits allow them- 

 selves to be. Occasionally the most amusing scenes 

 take place before our eyes ; sometimes a blue tit' will 

 deliberately attack a great tit, and sometimes drive 

 him away. If the great tit resists at all, he is usually 

 " one too many " for his diminutive cousin, but usu- 

 ally they are a little afraid of one another, as there 

 are seldom more than one, or at most two, birds in 

 the pan at once, though there are often others on the 

 edge, or on tiie three legs of the tripod. I have now 

 spoken mostly of the tits, but we have other visitors 

 which, though not so common, are perhaps quite as 

 pretty. These I have not space to describe. I must, 

 however, narrate an exciting event which took place 

 last August. A greenfinch had taken possession of 

 the hemp seeds, and entirely forbade any other birds 

 to come near, except our friends the tits. If a 

 sparrow settled on the edge of the pan, he flew at 

 him at once and drove him away. Occasionally 

 four or five sparrows would come one after another ; 

 and on such occasions his time was entirely occu- 

 pied with these ; and so his dinner had to wait till 

 they were all gone. But his conduct towards the tits 

 was very different ; he seemed to appreciate their 

 strength and pluck, and never attempted to inter- 

 fere with them. This respectful conduct, however, 

 entirely vanished when some other bird arrived. 

 We have lately had another friend come for food in 

 the shape of a nuthatch, or, rather, a pair of nut- 

 hatches, which originally came for nuts, put out for 

 a squirrel's benefit; but we managed to tempt them 

 nearer and nearer to the house till they were tame 

 enough to be closely looked at through the window. 

 At one time I counted fourteen visits from these 

 two in the space of half an hour, and each time a 

 nut was carried away. I am told their visits were 

 continued after I was obliged to leave my position^ 

 These nuthatches do not often visit the tripod ; but 

 at a house I know near CroniL-r, where the birds are 

 fed in the same way, they frequently associate with 

 the tits and eat the hemp-seed. At these times, 

 when prevented from going straight to tlie pan by 

 a tit or other bird, they will run up aud down the 

 supports, always running head downwards when 

 descending, and never content to fly down from the 

 lop to the pan; they always fly away with the seed, 

 and do not crack it on the legs of the tripod 

 or the strings supporting the pan, as the blue tits 

 always do. —A. F. Biixlon- 



