206 FIRST APPEARANCES OF BIRDS, INSECTS, ETC. 



April 28th, 1912. At Bere Wood, Sylvia curruca (Lesser 

 white throat) first heard. 



April 30th, 1912. At Canford, Sylvia atricapilla (Black- 

 cap) seen and heard. 



May 8th, 1912. At Canford, Locustella ncevia (Grasshopper 

 warbler), one seen. 



May 5th, 1912. At Bere Wood. Nest of Sylvia salicaria 

 (Garden warbler), structure finished, not yet lined. 



May llth, 1912. At Bere Wood, Sylvia atricapilla (Black- 

 cap warbler) nest and one egg. A few days prior to this a 

 gamekeeper at Bloxworth destroyed a very fine female of 

 Falco cesalon (Merlin) and nailed it up on his gallows. 



May 12th, 1912. Oaker's Wood, near Moreton, Phyllos 

 copus sibilatrix (Wood wren) is by no means uncommon ; at 

 Bere Wood it is met with very sparingly. 



May 18th, 1912. Turtur turtur (Turtle dove). Four seen 

 at Canford, Dorset. 



May 26th, 1912. A pair of Coccothraustes coccofhraustes 

 (Hawfinch), evidently nesting in Bere Wood. Bere Wood, 

 Caprimulgus europceus, one flushed ; but we did not search 

 for nest, as we were too busy with insects. 



May 27th, 1912. Dendrocopus major (Great spotted wood- 

 pecker) nested this year on the Canford Estate. 



NOTES ON INSECTS. 



By (W. P. C.), Poole. As a lepidopterist I found the 

 season a failure. The weather was about the worst in my 

 recollection. The heavy rains in the spring, followed by a 

 short spell of fine weather only, were most detrimental to the 

 larvae. The hot spell in May appears to have spoilt the birch 

 stumps, and the death rate amongst the pup^e of Sesia 

 culiciformis was abnormal. Sesia cynipiformis, on the other 

 hand, suffered from the wet June and July. It commenced 

 emerging in May, my earliest is 18th May, and continued to 

 dribble out until the later end of August. Larvse were 

 exceptionally scarce, although Sarothripus revayana got to a 

 second brood in September. Hemaris fuciformis continued 



