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THE BIRDS OF OXFORDSHIRE. 



The Birds of Oxfordshire. By O. V. Ari.iN. With a Map and Plate. 

 Oxford : Clarendon Press. 1889. 



Mr. Aplin's ' Birds of Oxfordshire ' is a welcome addition to the 

 ranks of our faunal hterature, and is a satisfactory production, 

 worthy of hearty recommendation. We are especially glad to note 

 that Mr. Aplin has fully realised what naturalists really want in and 

 expect of a county avifauna, and has not trenched upon the domain 

 of what should appertain to a text-book on British birds. He tells 

 us just what we desire to know about Oxfordshire and its birds, 

 while he also gives interesting notes on their habits. 



It is thought, however, since Mr. Aplin is evidently a believer in 

 the specific distinctness between Linota linaria and Z. rufescens, 

 that he would be quite justified in adding the Mealy Redpoll to his 

 list of Oxfordshire birds on the evidence he himself adduces at p. 95, 

 where he tells us that ' the large light-coloured race of Redpolls has 

 occurred in Oxfordshire, and some were in the hands of an Oxford 

 bird dealer in the winters of 1879-80 and 1880-81.' We have 

 certainly never heard of a large light-coloured race of L. rufescefiSy 

 and the occurrence of such-to-be-described birds in winter, leates, 

 it is thought, no doubt as to their identity with L. linaria. 



There is a good descri])tion of the county and its ornithologists ; 

 and it is needless to say that the book is well got up. We do not 

 much like the plate, nor can we say that we are inchned to think its 

 subject — the Alpine Chough— is altogether free from the suspicion 

 that it may not find its way into this country unaided. — W.E.C. 



NOTE— ENTOMOLOGY. 



Entomological Exhibition at Alford, Lines. — At the Alford Flower Show 



on the 13th of August, 1889, members of the Society had a special tent in which 



Mr. Robert Garfit exhibited his magnificent collection of insects, principally 



Lepidoptera, both English and exotic, besides larvif of various moths feeding on 



their proper food plants. The local rarities included a specimen of the Clifden 



Nonjiareil (Calocala fraxini) taken at Hogsthorpe, the only example ever found 



in this neighbourhood; Clouded Yellow (CfV/V/j cv/z^fa) taken at Alford ; Clreasy 



P'ritillary {Melitiia arteinis), very local, bred from larv;^ taken at Ailby, feeding 



on the Scabious {Scahiosa sitccisa Linn.) ; Marbled White (Me/atiarge galatea), 



very local, taken at Well ; Large Tortoise-shell ( Vaucssa polychloj-os), bred from 



larva; taken at Alford, feeding on the Drooping Willow ; Camberwell Beauty 



( r. aiitiopa) taken at Louth ; Death's Head Hawk Moth {Acheroutia a(ropos), 



larvw, pupa;, and imagos, taken at Alford ; Convolvulus Hawk Moth {Sp/iiiix 



convo/vuli) taken at Alford ; Bedstraw Hawk Moth {Deilephila gah'i) taken at 



Alford; and the Dark Tussock {Dasychira fascelina) bred from larvte taken at 



Mablethorpe, feecjing on the Sea-Buckthorn {Hippopliac rhavtuoides Linn.). 



The President exhibited his collection of British Hemiptera-Heteroptera, Dicy- 



p/iiis covstrictiis Bohemann, being the rarest, having been taken by him on two 



occasions at Well, but elsewhere in Great Britain only by Dr. Buchanan White at 



Perth. Mr. Mason also exhibited, in their various stages of development, with 



examples of damage done, a numerous selection of insects injurious to gardens 



and the farm, among these being the Hessian Fly, with plants of wheat and barley 



injured by it.— [osErn Burtt Davv, Hon. Sec, October 1889. '. ; — 



■' ■' - Naturalist, 



