864 NOTICE OF THE SPECIES OF CARABDS. 



G. granulatus. This species appears to be confined to marshy districts, as 

 those around Hackney, &c. I have never yet met with it in lanes, except 

 bordering on such localities, where it is certainly not common. 



G. arvensis. This pretty insect occurs in May, on Wanstead Heath ; the 

 only spot where I have as yet observed it, and there but sparingly. 



G. purjpurascens. It was in the spring of 1852, when I first met with a 

 species, in a field by Temple Mills, which I take to be this insect. It is a 

 very handsome specimen, and agrees somewhat with the description of the 

 same as figured and described in the second number of the " Cabinet of 

 British Entomology," but not with the figure ; which, if the blue edging was 

 taken from the thorax, would not be unlike the C. violaeens. But it is not to 

 be wondered at, when we consider the difiiculty of conveying the delicate 

 tints of Nature to paper, even in the higher department of her works ; how 

 much more so, then, in those beautiful colours that are met with on such 

 numbers of the insect world. But in spite of this drawback, it was a highly 

 useful work, and I much regret its discontinuance. 



The neighbourhood of London seems to oifer a fair number of species of 

 this genus, as will be seen by enumerating a few others found elsewhere, as 

 G. glabratus, in the mountains of Scotland. G. auratus, found in France, — a 

 doubtful native. G. nitens, occasionally in various parts of the countiy. 

 G. clathratus may also be considered a Scottish insect, though occasionally 

 found in other places. The other species are rare, or are only occasionally 

 to be met with, even in the localities where they are found. 

 Tennyson Terrace, White Post Lane, Hackney Wick. 



CHAEACTERISTICS OF COMMON BIRDS, 

 i 



BY 0. S. ROUND, ESQ. 



It not unfrequently happens, that things which are constantly within our 

 sphere of observation, are, to a great extent, overlooked ; not, perhaps, so 

 much from being unworthy of attention, as that their constant occux'rence 

 makes them " cheap," and we all know how much familiarity breeds con- 

 tempt ; but I believe that there is a gi'eat error in this, and that it is the 

 cause why many things very worthy our consideration escape record. I was 

 led into this speculation by watching a flock of Sparrows sitting on the walls 

 of our farm-yard in the warm sun, for it is Spring weather this, in tempore 

 Mid-winter. Sparrows are common birds enough, and not very handsome, 

 but I always looked upon them as clever birds, a good test of which is that 

 boys find it difficult very often to obtain a shot at them, and therefore they 

 must be veiy sharp indeed ; but this applies almost entirely to cold, bleak, 

 windy weather, for in mild days, and Summer or Spring time, they are tame 



