

FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 241 



by reliable ornithologists at Poole Sandbanks and on the Purbeck 

 and Wareham heaths. 



RED-LEGGED PARTRIDGE (Caccalis rufa, L.). These have 

 been much more common in the Chard district for two or three 

 seasons than formerly. (E. S. R.) In " Birds of Dorsetshire " 

 (cir. 1888) Mr. Mansel-Pleydell says, "The Red-legged Partridge 

 has failed to obtain a permanent footing in this county, 

 occasional attempts to introduce it having proved unsuccessful." 

 (N. M. R.) 



WHIMBREL (Nwnenius phceoptis, L.). One seen on the shore 

 of Poole Harbour April 2 8th. (G. R. P.) In " Birds of 

 Dorsetshire " Mr. Mansel-Pleydell says that the local name for 

 this bird is " Chickerel." This suggests a derivation for the 

 name of the village, Chickerell, near Weymouth, in which I live, 

 though I am not aware that the bird has been seen there of late 

 years. (N. M. R.) 



GENERAL ZOOLOGICAL NOTES. 



GOOSEBERRY SAWFLY (Nematus grossularia) AND HOW TO 

 COMBAT IT. I have mentioned in previous volumes of "Pro- 

 ceedings " how severely my gooseberry and currant bushes have 

 during the last few years been attacked by this pest, and the 

 ill- success that has attended the efforts to exterminate it by 

 collecting the eggs and larvae by hand. It is, therefore, highly 

 satisfactory to be able to report that a method of prevention, to 

 which my attention was drawn as having been strongly advocated 

 by a contributor to "The Field" newspaper in 1906, and which 

 was tried in my garden this spring for the first time, yielded such 

 excellent results that only a few larvae were found, instead of vast 

 multitudes. The plan is to procure at the end of February some 

 freshly-burned lime, and after slacking it with a small quantity of 

 water, so that it falls into a dry and caustic powder, to spread a 

 thin layer of it under each bush, so as to cover over the soil in a 

 circle of about 2| feet in diameter. The lime should not be 

 disturbed or dug into the soil before the following autumn or 

 winter, and the object of the dressing evidently is to form a hard 



