^<^rntrAiiig3 nf Intirtits. 



The London Working Entomologists met on Wednesday, April 2nd., at 

 52, High Holborn; Mr. Dow in the chair. Owing to the late cold winds 

 not many rarities were shewn. The printed Club Rules will be distributed 

 at the next meeting. 



The following donations were received, and a vote of thanks passed — 

 "The Naturalist," for March and April, by the Editor, the Eev. F. 0. 

 Morris. — James Gardner, Hon. Sec. 



€\}i (llntrist. 



A query occurs in "The Naturalist" for February — "Why are birds so 

 scarce in certain districts, whilst food, as haws, etc., is so abundant?" 

 The following notice of the havoc amongst them last winter, may, I think, 

 fairly account for it, and for a recurrence of scarcity for some seasons to 

 come: — The whole of the Thrush tribe were remarkably scarce in this 

 neighbourhood during the past summer of 1855, and our beautiful valleys, 

 which used to resound with the loud notes of the Missel, the rich whistle 

 of the Blackbird, and the varied and melodious strains of the Thrush, 

 were sadly deficient of their usual vocal charms; scarcely a bird of either 

 species was to be heard for miles around. The winter migration has not added 

 much to their numbers, and their congeners, the Fieldfare and Redwing 

 have been remarkably scarce, not one of the former, so far as I am aware 

 of, having been identified in the neighbourhood. These used to be our 

 most common birds, and the first to succumb to severe weather. An 

 ornithological friend tells me that very few Fieldfares have been seen at The 

 Lizard, where last winter, in company with their congeners, they covered 

 the country by thousands; and an intelligent and observing man told me 

 there last summer that "not a tithe of them escaped." In our neighbour- 

 hood, the gardens close to the town being manured with sea-weed, which 

 afforded a scanty supply of maggots, were covered with these unfortunate 

 birds so thickly, that in one instance, twenty-two Redwings and two Star- 

 lings were killed at one shot; and I saw starved Redwings (local Win- 

 nards,) hopping listlessly about the streets. Great numbers, together with 

 Starlings, Larks, and other small birds, perished with cold and starvation, 

 besides the numbers destroyed by the murderous ^'pin and thread" and gun, 

 boys, cats, and other enemies. In a recent catalogue of Eggs, Mr. Wolley 

 notes "In the summer of 1855, Fieldfares were in such small numbers in 

 Lapland, probably on account of the previous severe winter in the south, 

 that I did not happen to see a single inhabited nest." We have only 

 seen one flock of Redwings here for the winter, and observed them scattered 

 about the fields during a few days frost. — Clement Jackson, East Looe. 



