234: 



NOTES ON 

 THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SOUTHAMPTON. 



BY WILLIAM D. BALSHAW^ ESQ., JUK. 



A VRRY general opinion seems to be entertained by naturalists that the 

 Whinchatj (Saxicola ruhetra,) is with us only a summer visitant, making its 

 appearance in the southern parts of the country about the middle of April, 

 and migrating again, according to some authors, almost the first of our birds 

 of passage, being, as it is stated, very susceptible of cold. My own observations 

 however tend rather to show that, at least in the neighbourhood of South- 

 ampton, it remains the whole year with us. 



On this point Yarrell, in his "British Birds," vol. i. page 250, says, "The 

 similarity in various points between these two birds {Saxicola ruhetra and Sax- 

 icola rubicola,) has induced a partial belief that the Whinchats, like the 

 Stonechats, remain here during the winter, but the Whinchats almost to a 

 bird depart in autumn to go farther south' I am not aware of more than 

 two authentic instances of the Whinchat's being seen here in winter." Upon 

 all the commons in the neighbourhood of Southampton, these Furze Toppers, 

 as they are there popularly called, are very numerous during the whole of the 

 year, and often have they excited my attention in the most dreary winter 

 weather by their lively and active motions in search of food. So frequently 

 had we established the fact of their spending the cold weather with us, that 

 I. never thought it worth while to record in my journal the dates when I 

 saw them; except during the severe winter of 1846-7, when both males and 

 females were seen. The entry bears date February 25th., which was a bright 

 frosty day, with snow lying in some of the more sheltered spots. 



White, in his ^'Natural History of Selborne," (Letter xxv. to the Hon. 

 Daines Barrington,) in a list of soft- billed birds which, though insect-eaters, 

 stay with us the year round, includes the Whinchat. 



I shall be very glad to see the opinions of any of your correspondents, on 

 this interesting subject, expressed in the pages of "The Naturalist." 



During the summer of 1848, a most remarkable flight of the common Lady 

 Bird, (Coccinella septempunctata,) alighted in the neighbourhood of South- 

 ampton, and at the time excited considerable attention among us. These 

 insects were found in by far the greatest numbers upon, and in the immediate 

 vicinity of the Milbrook shore. I well recollect our astonishment, when, 

 walking along the beach, one day towards the beginning of August, we found 

 the railings of the Southampton and Dorchester Railway literally red with 

 them, where a few days before there had not been one. They swarmed in 

 the same numbers on the fence enclosing the grounds of Freemantle House, 

 the seat of the late Lady Hewitt. Further from the shore they appeared in 

 unusual numbers during the whole of the autumn, and were to be seen in 

 great abundance even in the windows of houses. 



The year 1848 was altogether very remarkably prolific in insects. In the 



