THE COLLECTION AND PRESERVATION OF DIPTERA 6i 



upon our readers the desirability of enlisting more workers 

 into the ranks of Dipterology. More students are urgently 

 needed, for there are many problems to be solved, many of 

 which will have, sooner or later, a direct bearing upon 

 agricultural and medical questions of the highest importance 

 to man himself. The first step is to collect, preserve, and 

 study as many species as possible, so as to gain a good 

 grounding in the general characteristics of the Order, after 

 which some group may be taken up in greater detail and 

 studied in all its bearings. There is work enough for all, 

 and the sooner we have an army of specialists in this 

 exceptionally interesting order of insects the better we shall 

 be able to tackle the many economic problems which still -- 

 await solution. 



{To be continued.) 



Sparrow-hawk and Wood-pigeons. The Sparrow-hawks 

 in this part of Berwickshire have increased in numbers during the 

 last few years, owing to the usual toll not having been exacted 

 from the nesting pairs, and the evidence of their depredations is 

 frequently manifested to any one taking a walk in the neighbourhood 

 of their haunts. Some weeks ago, on the margin of a plantation, 

 I came suddenly upon a female Sparrow-hawk dining off a Wood- 

 pigeon, and on searching around I found the remains of three or 

 four others that had evidently fallen victims to the same depredator. 

 Since then I have examined the remains of about a dozen other 

 pigeons, all of which seemingly had met their fate through the 

 same agency. The head and neck of the victims are always picked 

 quite clean, and sometimes very little flesh is left on the breast. 

 In other cases the breast is untouched, while all the meat is eaten 

 from the back. If the killing is all done by one bird it must have 

 an extensive hunting range, as the localities where the remains were 

 found are in each case several miles apart. The 'Wood-pigeon is 

 a large quarry for a Sparrow-hawk to tackle, and it is unusual to 

 find one systematically preying on them as this one appears to be 

 doing. T. G. Laidlaw, Duns. 



