CORRESPONDENCE. 69 



Ornithological Notes from Oxfordshire. — The late severe weather 

 has had a terrible effect on the birds. No less than ten green wood- 

 peckers, besides five hawfinches and other birds were brought to Mr. 

 W. Wyafct, of Banbury, about the end of the frost, all picked up 

 starved. Kingfishers have also suffered very much, a great many were 

 found in the Cherwell when the ice broke up. Wigeon have been 

 scarce this season ; I did not hear of any till December 30th. On the 

 5th inst., I Hushed three short-eared owls from some long grass in a 

 a wet marshy meadow. This very elegant bird is sometimes known 

 here by the name of •' Marsh Owl." On the 2.0th of last month I saw 

 a hawfinch here, and I have heard of a good many more having been 

 shot in the neighbourhood. A female golden eye was procured on the 

 canal on the 18th, and on the 21th a grey crow was picked up near 

 Banbury in a starving condition, and brought to Mr. Wyatt, who kept 

 it for some days and then let it go. Hunger and cold had so tamed 

 this wary bird, that it would take food from his hand. — Oliver V. 

 ArLiN, Bodicote, Oxon, Feb. 12th, 1881. 



The Pupation of Melanthia Ocellata. — About the end of July last 

 I obtained (from a female which I caught in Kent) some eggs of M. 

 ocellata, which hatched on August loth. The larva?, which I fed on 

 woodruff, grew but slowly ; and instead of changing to pupa? in the 

 following mon h. they went on feeding till November, when, finding 

 that the food was no longer touched, I left them to themselves, they 

 being then nearly full grown. Yesterday, February 11th. 1 examined 

 the cage in which 1 had left them, and found several spun up in their 

 webs, principally on the sides of a small box of earth which I had put 

 into the cage, but not one had turned to a pupa : all were still in the 

 larva stage, coiled up comfortably in their cells. This surprised me, as I 

 find no record of any such occurrence with regard to this species in 

 any of the recognised authorities on the subject. There are several 

 species, e.g., Cirrluzdia xerampelina, the larvae of which remain for some 

 time in the cocoon before changing into pupa? ; but no one seems to 

 have noticed anything of the kind with respect to .17. ocellata. I write 

 to invite the attention of midland entomologists to the subject, and to 

 enquire if any of them can suggest a cause for this unusual state of 

 things. — Chas. F. Thornewill, The Soho, Burton-on-Trent, Feb. 12th, 



1881. 



(Slcaninifs. 



Species of Birds. — Dr. Sclater states the number of existing (known) 

 species of birds to be 10,139. 



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