190 MISCELLANEOUS NOTICES. 



several years as mciTV and happy a songster as any of its brethren. — Eichard Neale, M. R. C. S., 

 Fazeley, Staffordshu-e, May 29th., 1851. 



Tlw Spoonbill, (Plataloa leiicorodia,) in Yorkshire.— Wg hare nnich pleasure in recording the 

 capture of a very beautiful specimen of the Spoonbill, which was shot by Cliarles Vaux, servant 

 to Mr. G. Milner, of Wilberfoss, near York, on the evening of the 2nd. of August last. It was 

 an adult female, in fine plumage, and had alighted on the pond in the middle of a flock of tame 

 ducks in the dusk of the evening. It was stuffed by Mr. Graham, of this city, who shewed it 

 to us while yet wanii.— B. R. M. 



Note on the Puffin, (Fratercula arctica.)— For several winters in succession I have met with 

 this bird in December and January at Tyne Sands, in East-I,othian. The specimens I found 

 were apparently young birds of the season, and probably helpless, so far as migration was 

 concerned — a suspicion sometimes confirmed by one or two dead birds bcsing cast ashore after 

 storms, in a recent state. Guillemots, Razor-bills, and Solan Geese often share the same fate: 

 the latter I have occasionally found in winter, but the birds were young ones; and regarding 

 both this species and the Puffin, I would suggest tliat some of the late-fledged broods are not 

 matured enough to leave the breeding stations along with the old and stronger birds, and do 

 not migrate at all. Tlie locality I have spoken of is distant only ten miles from the Bass Rock, 

 where they are bred in abundance. --R. Gray. 



The Leaf -cutting lice. — Some three or four years ago, when in a printing-office in this town, 

 I observed a singular situation for the nest of a Leaf-cutting Bee. It was in the groove usually 

 cut out from the bottom of a horizontally-sliding window, but which is generally filled by a 

 coiTCsponding slip nailed to the window bottom. In this case the bottom slip had been broken 

 away, so that there was a square orifice of about half-an-uich — the full width of the window. 

 Observing a Bee fly in one day when the window was partially open, (at wliich time only access 

 could be had,) with a part of a leaf, I examined the bottom of the window, and there found 

 the nest, of about four inches in length, and composed of pieces of I'ose leaves curled round and 

 tucked one into another, mitil of the proper length and thickness. Last autumn I again detected 

 a Bee going into another window in the same room, which was similarly circumstanced to the 

 first-named, and again the nest was found, enveloping this time the larva, with a goodly supply 

 of a rather fetid, clammy substance; intended, I suppose, for its winter nourishment. — J. A. 

 Robinson, Southport, Lancashire, August 8th, 1851. 



See Trees in the Xew Forest, Hants, in the time of Queen Elizabeth .—JLxtvact from a decree 

 of the Court of E-xcliequer, June 19tli., 23t]i. of Elizabeth. "It is likewise ordered that the 

 said keepers in the Xcw Forest, shall h.ave each of them, in his several walk, only such wind- 

 fall trees and boughs, where no part of the root is np turned and inbowes also, only so much 

 thereof as the Bees do light on, and the honey that shall be found in the tree, but not to cut 

 away any main bough or tree by colour thereof." In the smnmer of 1844, close to the New 

 Forest, there was a hollow tree in wliich honey was found; the amoimt of wliich was "a pail 

 full."-ll. R. 



Capture of Leptinus testaceus, near Taislci/. — About the end of September, 1850, we captured 

 one specimen of this rare Beetle, in rather a singular waj'. I had been removing the carcase 

 of a cat in a vasculum, from Cart Side to Paisley Moss, for the pui-pose of attracting canion- 

 feoding Beetles; and returned with some small branches of birch in it, for feeding caterpillars. 

 A numbcn" of days afterwards, my brother observed the little creature making its escape from a 

 tuft of the cat's hair, which was still attached to the lid of the vasculvun. Is it an animal, or 

 a vegetable feeder?— Morris Young, 7, Old Sneddon Street, Paisley, August 22nd., 1851. 



Capture of Rhinomacer attelaboides, tiear Paisley. — On the Srd. of May we captured three 

 specimens of this rare Beetle, by beating fir trees. at Paisley Moss. — Idem. 



Capture of Acidota rufa, near Paisley. — On the Srd. of May we cnptured upwards of a dozen 

 spechnens of Acidota rufa at Paisley Moss, by shaking roots of grass. — Idem. 



The Flea.— A. Flea from a Dog, which I had placed in a pair of spring forceps for micro- 

 scopical examination, lived twelve days so confined. It was remarkably vigorous after eight 

 online days.— J. A. Robinson, Southport, Lancashu-e, May 8th., 1851. 



