MISCELLANEOUS NOTES 295 



the same fields must surely have been a mistake. 

 I advocated turning in the village children to stir 

 up the soil and collect the beetles, at a premium; 

 and suggested that young fowls, more especially 

 ducklings, should in future be penned in the vicinity 

 in their season. 



Half a dozen of the beetles I carried home I shut 

 up in a glass pot, taking care that they should, for 

 a few days at least, do penance. At the end of 

 a week they were tame enough and fairly hungry. 

 I tried them with freshly killed dipterous insects, 

 but they refused to have anything to do with 

 them ; but on placing a strawberry amongst them, 

 they " set to " with a zest that showed they were 

 not only hungry but knew what suited their palate. 

 They were busy all breakfast-time, and in broad 

 daylight too, and were determined to remain by 

 their treasure even when I twirled the strawberry 

 round by the stalk between my fingers. In an hour 

 the berry was completely riddled with holes. 



At Belton there are gardens where the soil is 

 quite as sandy and as dry, and undoubtedly as 

 suited to the habits of Harpalus ; but the Natterjack 

 Toad is unusually numerous there, so much so 

 that ground vermin of the Harpalus kidney are 



