Oct. ], 1869.] 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



229 



and Roxburgh occasionally' (Mr. J. F. Whitecross); 

 in Stirling (Mr. J. Murray) ; Clackmannan (Dr. P. 

 Brotherson) ; in Perth (Mr. A. Pullar) ; in Ross, 

 Sutherland, Caithness, the Hebrides and Orkneys. 

 The eggs are usually five or six in number, white, 

 smaller in size than those of the Barn Owl, and 

 smoother in texture. 



Unlike its congeners, the Short-eared Owl evinces 

 no partiality for woods, but affects the open country, 

 roosting upon the ground by day, under shelter of 

 dry grass, sedge, or heath, and hunting for its food 

 as soon as the sun has disappeared. We have often 

 thought, however, when watching the flight of one 



BRITISH MOTHS.* 



rpHIS excellent work, which has appeared in 

 -*- monthly numbers, has now reached its con- 

 clusion, and, under the form of a volume in crimson 

 and gold, becomes a candidate for the drawing-room 

 table. The features which recommend it to stu- 

 dents and lovers of nature are of more interest and 

 value — to us no less, we imagine, than to the author 

 himself — than mere external beauty or fitness for 

 ornamental purposes. We have often been soli- 

 cited to name a book containing figures of all the 

 British moths, with plain descriptions, at a reason- 



Fig-. 207. The Privet Hawk-moth (Sphinx ligustrh). 



of these birds when disturbed in the daytime, that 

 its bolder and more hawk-like flight, and the fact of 

 its living out in the open country, indicated habits 

 less nocturnal than those of other owls. Its sight is 

 wonderfully keen, and if once disturbed and not 

 shot, it is almost impossible to approach within 

 range of it a second time. It has been stated on 

 the authority of Capt. Portlock, in the Proceedings 

 of the Royal Irish Academy (vol. i. p. 52), that in 

 a rabbit warren at Magilligan, county of London- 

 derry, where the Short-eared Owl is a regular 

 visitant in autumn, birds of this species have been 

 seen at the entrance to the burrows, within which 

 they retired when disturbed : more than one was 

 shot on emerging from a hole, and one was taken 

 in a trap placed at the entrance of a burrow when 

 making its exit thence." Whether they entered the 

 holes for concealment, or for the purpose of carry- 

 ing off young rabbits, the observer was not able to 

 determine. There can be no doubt that the Short- 

 eared Owl would take young rabbits where the 

 opportunity occurred ; but as it is seldom found in 

 England except between the months of September 

 and April, it cannot commit that havoc amongst 

 young game birds of which, in common with other 

 owls, it has been so frequently accused. 



J. E. Harting. 



* Thompson's " Natural History of Ireland " (Birds), 

 vol. i. p. 91. 



able price. Such a book is the present, and we 

 hope, for the sake both of author and publisher, 

 that it will meet with the success it merits. 



The insects which are not included in this volume 

 are the Deltoids, Pyrales, Veneers, and Plumes, 

 together with the Tortrices and Tineae. "It was 

 found impossible," writes Mr. Newman, "to make 

 effective representations in wood of insects so 

 minute as the majority of those contained in the 

 four families I have mentioned, and extremely diffi- 

 cult to fix any scale by which to represent them of 

 a uniformly increased size : the difficulty, indeed, 

 seemed so great that the project has been abandoned 

 for the present." 



The "British Moths" aspires to be a popular 

 guide, and hence its author employs plain language, 

 divested as much as possible of technicalities. As 

 an example, we quote his description of the Silver- 

 striped Hawk-moth {Chcerocampa Celerio), the 

 figure of which, together with that of the Privet 

 Hawk-moth, were kindly placed at our disposal by 

 the publisher for this purpose. 



" The Silver-striped Hawk-moth. — Pore wings 

 brown, with a narrow silvery oblique stripe along 

 the middle, commencing in a point at the extreme 

 apex of the wing ; this stripe is composed of four 



* " An Illustrated Natural History of British Moths ; with 

 life-sized figures from nature of each species, and of the more 

 striking varieties," by Edward Newman, F.I..S., &c. Royal 

 8vo. Tweedie, 33", Strand. 



