
19 
BIOLOGICAL NOTES, 1898—By Mr. A. 0. WALKER, F.LS. 

Communicated to the Zoological Section. 
SCARCITY OR ABUNDANCE OF WASPS. 
It has been generally believed that a wet May was prejudicial to Wasps 
by destroying the Queens at the beginning of their breeding season. This 
has been disproved this year at Colwyn Bay, for after the wettest May 
recorded in nineteen years—five inches of rain—Wasps were unusually 
abundant in August. Previous to that month they had done no damage to 
fruit, confining themselves to the ‘‘honeydew’’— secretion from aphides—which 
was very abundant in early summer; but after that they were most destructive 
to plums, &c. Col. Davies-Cooke, on the other hand, said they were very 
scarce about Mold. There was no frost in May at Colwyn Bay, the lowest 
shade temp, at Nant-y-Glyn having been 34°62, but in all probability it was 
much colder near Mold. It would, therefore, appear to be low temperature 
in May, rather than rain, which destroys the Queens. 
STARLINGS AND BLACKBIRDS. 
Starlings are abundant in my garden at Nant-y-Glyn, yet I have never 
seen them take fruit of any description. Blackbirds, on the other hand, 
which are commoner on the Coast of North Wales than in any part of the 
country I know, are excessively destructive to fruit. I have seen them 
stripping an Arbutus of its berries in autumn, while the Starlings sat on the 
topmost branches of a thorn immediately above them without taking any 
part in their ravages. Yet it is well known that, in some places, Starlings are 
destructive to fruit, especially cherries, and the President of the Society 
(Mr. J. D. Siddall) says he has seen them devouring these and keeping the 
Blackbirds away! This confirms what I have noticed with other birds and 
animals, viz., that a statement which is true about their habits in one locality 
is not necessarily so in another. 


NATURAL HISTORY NOTES—By Mr. J. D. SIDDALL. 
RoosTING OF SWALLOWS. 
During the later part of August and until near the end of September 
last year, the telegraph wires crossing the meadows and river above the 
«« Red House,”’ were in the evening the assembling place for many thousands 
of Swallows. They alighted on the wires prior to settling for the night in 
an adjacent patch of osier willows—a few acres in extent—in a meadow at 
the foot of Messrs. Dicksons’ Nursery. The noise made by so great a 
number of birds settling down on the stems resembled that of a mowing 
machine at work. If, when the birds had settled, stones were thrown among 
the willows they would rise and circle rapidly in clouds for a short time, 
but would speedily return to their roosting places again. Several would 
cling upon a single stem, which would bend over with their weight, and it 
was easily possible to take a bird by hand by creeping in among the osiers 
when they had settled. A workman at the Nurseries said that this had been 
a great roosting place—after the breeding season—for several years past, 
but he did not remember such great numbers before. He also said they 
came there for about six weeks before going away. I had in previous years 
seen them roosting in the reed beds on the Serpentine, Eaton, but not in 
the meadow osier beds, or anything near such vast numbers. When watch- 
ing them one night I witnessed a remarkable conflict between the Swallows 
and a Weasel, The latter crept across a meadow towards the osier bed, but 
was observed and fiercely attacked by the Swallows, which swooped down 
