'20 MISCELLAXEOUS NOTICES. 



is well-adapted to the use of the student in this particular branch, who will 

 have little difficulty in recognizing the Entomodmcan he may find, by the aid 

 of the adnnrablc descriptions and plates. The work before us cannot fail to 

 render the study of these interesting creatures much more frequent than it has 

 hitherto been. Armed with this volume and a good microscope, the student 

 may find ^endless amusement' and instruction in any locality he may reside 

 in. Every pond or ditch, or even cistern, will afford him numerous species, 

 the investigation of whose habits and characters will amply repay him for his 

 labour in seeking them. 



We cordially recommend this work to our readers, not merely as being the 

 only work which embraces all the species of Entomostraca hitherto discovered 

 in Britain, but also as being intrinsically good in itself; so that if the observer 

 should chance to meet with a new species, he will have no difficulty in knowing 

 that it is so. The study of the Entomostraca has not yet advanced to such 

 a point as to forbid the hope of new discoveries, and we are sure that no 

 one would hail the advent of a new Entomostracan with more pleasure, than 

 the author of the beautiful work which is the subject of our notice. 



3Hi3rrllinirnii.3 Untirfs. 



Great Black Woodpecker (Picus martius.) Linn. — Tt is generally supposed by 

 Ornithologists that this beautiful bird is a straggler in Britain. This, however, 

 is not the case, for I have known it to breed and rear its young in several 

 instances at C/laremount, in Surrey. On one occasion I was anxious to see the 

 contents of the nest, which had been bviilt in a hole in a hrick tuall. The 

 brick had been destroyed, from the effects of frost, and mouldered away. The 

 bird had so completely replaced one of its own making of clay, with the 

 exception of a small round hole for its nse, it might have been passed by 

 without being seen. My hand being much larger than the hole, and the clay 

 having become so hard, I was obbged to use a knife to make the hole 

 large enough. Having satisfied myself, I left the eggs. I was now anxious 

 to see if the old bird, which had been watching my proceedings from the branch 

 of a large Cedar tree, would forsake the nest or not, from my rough visit; 

 I watched for a short time. Having made iip its mind, it made a bold dart 

 to its nest, returning immediately to the Cedar uttering a loud cry, which 

 brought the male bird. They both visited the nest, and then disappeared: in a 

 short time they returned, and began repairing the breach made, which was 

 completed the same day, and hatched their young in quietude after. These birds, 

 I am almost certain the same pair, made this hole their nest for three years: 

 during which time I had ample opportunities of watching them. I have also 

 met with the birds, but not their nests, in Dorsetshire — at Charborough 

 Park, but in no other part of the county. Kennie is quite wrong when he says 

 we have no evidence of its breeding, or performing its annual visits to this 

 country. About five or six years ago, I saw a specimen in the museum at 



