44 



hovering round a glass-house, and making many vain attempts to get 

 at the plants within. This species of butterfly is rather scarce in the 

 fields around London. 



26, 1833. Starlings observed in flocks at Kilburn and Hamp- 

 stead. 



27, 1 833. At Hampstead, in company with a friend, we found 

 Plusia gamma, Hydrophilus piceus, and the larvae of JAbelluUdce. 

 Saw Mesembrina equina. 



NOVEMBER 13, 1833. On Wormwood Scrubbs, observed a few 

 daisies still in flower. 



17, 1833. The day excessively warm. Flies observed to be 

 very abundant in Gray's Inn Lane ; observed a bat on the wing at 

 about five o'clock, at Highbury. 



DECEMBER 5, 1833. At Wilsdon, found Crioceris cyanella, con- 

 cealed under moss. 



17, 1832. In some fields at Paddington, searching for insects, 

 few of which were to be seen on account of the boisterous wind. 

 Windy days are the least favourable to entomologising, as all insects 

 (excepting the aquatic, but to many of these even the observation 

 is applicable) have an antipathy to wind ; and beetles, notwithstanding 

 their being encased by a hard covering, will, during its continuance, 

 seek some place of shelter to defend themselves from its annoyance. The 

 only insects I met with to-day, were Gyrinus natator, Notonecta glauca } 

 several larvae of Ephemerae and of Libellulidce. 



25, 1832. Saw a single specimen of Coccinclla bipunclata in 

 the Commercial Road. 



Paddington, Dec. 1833. 



ON PROCURING SPECIMENS OF THE SMALLER 

 BRITISH LAND BIRDS FORA MUSEUM, 



WITH OBSERVATIONS ON THE HABITS OP VARIOUS SPECIES. 

 BY EDWARD BLYTH. 



HAVING generally remarked, in the numerous public and private 

 collections of stuffed British birds which I have visited, that in the 

 hurry to be all at once possessed of specimens of every species, little 

 or no attention has been paid to the state of feather in which they were 

 obtained, I conceive that it would be useful to many who arc now 

 forming collections, to point out, as far as I am able, the particular 



