Birds—Spiders. “ 9331 
to whom they have been named; and my own specimen, shot on the 16th of July last, 
is certainly the first I have seen shot in this locality —W. W. Boulton; Beverley, 
October 11, 1864. 
Note on the Mountain Linnet or Twite.—In the October number of the ‘ Zoologist’ 
(Zool. 9280), Mr. Cordeaux, of Great Cotes, Ulceby, Lincolnshire, reports as an un- 
usual circumstance the capture of a mountain linnet, so early in the season as the 
16th of August, so far south as the locality named above. Until I read Mr. Cor- 
deaux’s note, it never occurred to me that it was unusual to meet with Fringilla mon- 
tana at this time of the year, and I am under the impression that I have seen many 
specimens of this species quite as early in the season as the 16th of August in the 
neighbourhood of Beverley. The only instance I find recorded in my note-book, how- 
ever, occurred in 1862, when a pair of twites, male and female, were shot in the 
Burton Bushes, close to Beverley, on the 7th of August. I saw these birds in the 
flesh, so that I cannot have the slightest doubt as to their species. They belong toa 
friend of mine, and I have no doubt that I could have them, should the period of 
their capture render them of sufficient interest. Both these birds were killed at one 
shot, and were evidently a pair. They were mature, and as they were frequenting 
low furze bushes at. the time of their capture, I thought then, and do so still, that 
they had bred in the neighbourhood. Fringilla linaria, or the lesser redpole, breeds 
with us regularly. I have its nest and eggs, and could obtain several each season. 
It remains in this locality throughout the year, and is met with in every stage of 
plumage. I only once obtained a single specimen of Fringilla borealis, or the mealy 
redpole: it was shot out of a flock that visited the neighbourhood several years ago, 
in the early winter season.—Jd.; October_19, 1864. 
Habits of Spiders.—In an arbour in my garden I have nailed up a piece of old 
carpet against the trellised side, to keep the sun from my pup. In a fold of this 
carpet, which I daily inspect, as it makes a good trap for moths, I have observed for a 
fortnight past a Depressaria applana that has never moved all that time, being always 
on the same spot, with its head downwards. In the same fold, close to it, are several 
web-making spiders, apparently of more than one species, any of them large enough to 
tackle a Depressaria, but they have never touched it. This is not the first time that 
I have noticed the extreme sluggishness of that moth through the autumn, so that I 
was not surprised to see it; but the abstinence of the spiders set me thinking what 
could be the cause of it. I must premise that I know next to nothing about spiders, 
and it seems to me that those who are well acquainted with their habits do not, so 
frequently as they might, publish their observations in the ‘ Zoologist.’ In the hope 
that my ignorant queries may stir up some arachnidist to give us an insight into the 
habits of these interesting creatures, I venture to conjecture, from the “ happy family” 
in the fold of the old carpet:—Virst. That the spiders came there for the same pur- 
pose as the Depressaria,—to spend the winter in a torpid state, thus long before the 
time; and that their unusual gentleness was owing to loss of appetite at the approach 
of torpidity, or perhaps to the desire to be on good terms with their neighbours, which 
we all feel as Christmas draws near. This conjecture is inconsistent with the activity 
of the spiders when “observed. Secondly. That they came there to prey upon the 
insects resorting thither for shelter; but that the Depressaria were not their proper 
