SI 4 JrtSCELLAXY. 



out whether a Cr ambus or a Pkycita. The shape inclines me to think the latter, 

 but in colour it is very similar to Crambus argyreus and C. lythargyrellus. My 

 pair of Russian Colias europome agree with those in the Linnean Cabinet. Mr. 

 Reid, of Doncaster, has several foreign specimens of both sexes, but quite distinct 

 from Colias pkilodice. Hesperia comma is plentiful near Hull, and at Gogmagog 

 Park. Tkecla pruni is common near Doncaster, according to Messrs. Reid and 

 Simmonds. Two specimens of Th. virgaurece ( $ ) were taken in Horningsea 

 Fen four or five years ago. Mr. Fox had one and Mr. Wenman the other. — 

 J. C. Dale, Glanville's Wootton, Dorsetshire, July 9, 1837. 



Effect of the Drainage of Fens. — The Ancholme Cars were once famous 

 for wild fowl, but (thanks to the drainage) of late years we have seen corn grow 

 and Sheep graze where they used to swim, and began to think that we should 

 have to convert our fowling-pieces into shepherd's crooks and reaping-hooks. The 

 severity of the season, however, has brought back an abundance of the feathery 

 tribe to their " watery hunts," and every old firelock has been called into requi- 

 6ition, and several Swans as well as other birds have been shot and captured, to 

 the no small gratification of our lovers of shooting. — Doncaster Gazette, Feb. 23, 

 1838. — \_Mere ornithologists are apt to make bitter complaints of the natural 

 effects of drainage and tillage on their favourite pursuit ; but the really philoso- 

 phic naturalist, while regretting the disappearance of a few of his feathered friends, 

 otherwise views the changes in his native soil with unmixed satisfaction, as 

 pointing out the progress of wealth, civilization, and happiness. — Ed. Nat.~\ 



Royal Poacher. — Much devastation has been caused among the Hares and 

 other game in the neighbourhood of Beningborough, Newton, &c, for upwards 

 of a week past, by the sportive flights of a large Golden-crested Eagle, which 

 during the storm had forsaken his more elevated domains to exercise his sovereign 

 rights in these parts. Royalty, however, was not considered sufficient to give 

 him a legitimate claim to the game of these manors, and, besides, sundry other 

 acts of rapacity were attributed to him, perhaps not strictly accordant with truth, 

 such as occasionally diversifying the provisions of his royal table with a Goose, a 

 Sheep, and (so far did exaggeration go) that it was also gravely averred he made 

 too free with a calf. In consequence a pretty close look-out has been kept, and 

 various methods have been tried to secure the royal stranger. Guns were pointed 

 against him, but in vain — none had within their barrel the charmed bullet that 

 could bring him down as he soared in his pride of place. Traps of different kinds 

 were set, but they were too weak to keep him in their toils. At last, however — 

 as man still asserts his right to dominion over the beasts of the field, and the 

 fowls of the air — a person in the neighbourhood of Newton bethought himself of 

 an old man-trap, which had been for some time out of use. This was duly set, 

 and having a Hare fastened to it as a lure, the Eagle pounced upon it on Sunday 



