23 
Section D. 
In the Pine-clad portions of Delamere Forest Fidonia 
piniarta abounds; and so far as I can ascertain, no nearer 
locality has been found. I have taken 8 specimens of this 
Moth, and the question is whether these, attracted by the 
light, have travelled all this distance? Of course, the pup 
may have been imported with potting material, &c., but from 
the numbers taken, such an explanation seems to me to be 
unlikely. My captures have been taken from all quarters of 
the city. 
Agrotis porphyrea is decidedly a heath-loving insect. It 
is also met with in Delamere Forest, in the open spaces between 
the trees, and in the heaths around Oakmere, 18 or 20 
occurrences have been noted by me at the lamps. 
SrEcTION E. 
In almost every instance the males greatly preponderate :— 
e.g. Dictza 30males and 7 females 
Betularia 153 ,, and7 ,, 
But there are two remarkable exceptions, namely Fidonia 
piniaria and Hepialis humuli ; 8 specimens of the former and 
6 of the latter have been taken and all are females ; in neither 
case has the male so far been seen at the lamps. 
The female of Heliophobus popalaris, I have heard, does not 
come to light! My observations do not confirm this, because 
I took 6 females and only 1 male on the south side of the 
city. My brother, however, who works the lamps on the 
north side had 1 female and 9 males. 
Under this heading there is only one other species of 
which the female has been markedly more frequent than the 
male : viz., Epione apinaria ; the proportion being 4 to 1. 


ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES—By Mr. W. HENRY DOBIE. 
Sylvia curruca,—The lesser Whitethroat continues to increase in Chester 
and the neighbourhood, where, a few years ago, it was a species by no means 
common. It frequents gardens in the heart of the city: amid the chorus of 
horns, bells, and voices which woke sleeping Chester on the morning of May 
31st, proclaiming the fall of Pretoria, its laughing note was heard within a 
hundred yards of the Town Hall. 
Motacilla flava.—A specimen of the Blue-headed Wagtail, a species never 
before obtained in the district, was shot at White Hall, Tarporley, in 1898, 
and is in the collection of Mr. J. H. Stock, M.P. It was identified by Mr. 
Newstead, and is recorded by Coward and Oldham in the ‘Birds of 
Cheshire ’’ (1900), p. 256. 
Muscicapa atricapilia.—Dr. Herbert Dobie noted the Pied Flycatcher 
at Rossett, on May 5th, 1900; and on the same date one was recorded at 
Tarporley, by Mr. J. Henry Stock, M.P. 
Botaurus stellaris.—A Bittern was-shot near Llanrwst, on December 
29th, 1899. About the same time several specimens were recorded in Angle- 
sey, Shropshire, and South Wales, 
Querquedula circia,—I have had the pleasure of examining a specimen 
of the Garganey, shot by Mr. Francis Congreve, of Burton Hall, on the Dee 
Marsh, about August 8th, 1899. 
