Fteld Notes, } 331 
thirty and forty birds noted on the banks of the reservoir.’ 
‘1g11, May 27th—In spite of the former abundance of the 
Whinchat around this reservoir, we only noted two pairs—one 
of which had a nest of six eggs in a tussock of coarse grass.’ 
Mr. Boyes accuses the~mowing-machine and modern 
methods of cutting the grass early, as the chief causes of the 
dimunition of the numbers of the Whinchat in the neigh- 
bourhood of Beverley. But other causes must apply in this 
neighbourhood. Reservoir embankments and rough enclosures 
on the edges of the moor are the chief haunts of the Whinchat 
here. They are unchanged to-day, being just as they were a 
score of years ago, or more. Possibly the decrease in its numbers 
may be due to a succession of wet and cold summers, but it 
seems more likely to be attributable to incidents on its journeys 
during migration, or whilst in its winter quarters. Certainly no 
local change in its breeding quarters here has tended to alter 
its status in this neighbourhood. 
The Redstart is also decreasing locally. A dozen years ago 
I did not know any place in this district where the Redstart 
was so abundant as just above Denton. Now, however, I can 
only find one, or at the most two, pairs, where ten years ago 
I could have seen a dozen pairs at the least. As with the 
Whinchats, the local conditions do not appear to have altered 
at all.—H. B. Boorn, Ben Rhydding. 
— + OF 
MOLLUSCA. 
Vivipara contecta near Halifax.—While dredging for 
shells at Dam Head, Shibden, near Halifax, in July, r910, I 
took three specimens of Vivipara contecta. As this was a new 
record for the Halifax parish, I was interested to find the 
species in some quantity this season 1gtr. The specimens 
were taken along with Limnea stagnalis and Planorbis albus. 
The dam is a small sheet of water, collected from a hillside 
spring, and used for domestic purposes by the cottagers near. 
Some anglers have introduced some trout, roach and gudgeon, 
but all the fish have been introduced from local streams, so that 
it is hardly likely the shells have been brouglit by that means. 
Vwipara vivipara is very plentiful in the canal some two miles 
away. Amacharis canadensis is very common in the dam, 
but still this has been put in from local sources. Some of the 
shells are very much eroded, which, I suppose is due to the 
action of the gases given off by the decaying animal and 
vegetable matter. Messrs. W. Cash and J. W. Taylor have 
verified the record.—J. H. Lump, Halifax, Aug. 17th, rorz. 
In the Entomologist’s Monthly Magazine for August, Detlephila galit 
is recorded at Boston, Lincs. :  Plusia moneta in Nottinghamshire; and 
Libellula fulva, abundant, at Askern, in Yorkshire. : 
torr Sept. 1. 
