148 THE ENTOMOI^OGIST'S RECORD. 



Place. — New Milton, Hants. Duration. — Uncertain. 



Food. — Mr. Smith Whiting had a pair of these birds under observa- 

 tion in a nesting box in his garden. He said that the food seemed to 

 be exclusively the pupae of ants. E.H.C. and W.P.C. spent between 

 them five hours at this nest. They only saw the one kind of food 

 brought except for a solitary wood louse. They found each parent 

 visited the nest individually about every eight minutes. That is one 

 bird every four minutes. 



28. Caprimulgus europaeus, L. The Nightjar. 



Observers. — W. P. Curtis and Time. — 

 EJ. H. Curtis. 



Date. — June, 1915. Sex. — 



Place. — Canford Bottom, Poole. Duration. — . 



Food. — As above explained we were unable by reason of the habits 

 of this bird to secure satisfactory records, but examination of the 

 remains in and about the nesting site showed the following species : — 

 Tripliaena (Aarotis) pronuha, Agrotis (Feltia) exclamationis, Aurotis 

 (Eu.voa) tritici, Agrotis [Lycojihotia) porphyrea, Leucania pallens, Xylo- 

 jyJiasia (ParastictJtis) monoylypha {polydon), X. (P.) litlwxylea, besides 

 many other Noctuae which we could not identify. 



Observers. — W. P. Curtis and Time. — 

 E. H. Curtis. 



Date.— July 16th, 1916. Sex.— 



Place. — Canford Bottom, Poole. Duration.^ — 



Food. — We had two nests under observation. ? no. 1 was missing 

 and her eggs were addled shortly after they were laid. J no. 2 

 hatched ofi" about 8th July. On 16th J no. 2 and both nestlings were 

 missing, but the crops of both nestlings were in the nest, and contained 

 a large number of moths. I identified Leucania pallens, X. (P.) 

 litho.vylea and X. (P.) vwnoylyiiha, but regretfully came to the conclusion 

 that I could not spare time to mount the whole contents for micro- 

 scopic examination. The preceding note needs amplification from the 

 ornithological point of view. We had a nest of the Sparrow Hawk, 

 Accipiter nisus, 300 yards away. Up to this date it had contained five 

 hungry little fiends, the last of which left on or about this date, but all 

 of which were being attended by their parents. On missing the night- 

 jars we searched the nest of A. nistis and found feathers of an adult 

 (sex not determined) and two wings of nestlings. I record the above 

 but do not propose to refer further to this aspect of the matter, as the 

 problem under discussion is wide enough without bringing the colora- 

 tion of Aves in. 



29. Cuculus canorus. The Cuckoo. 



Observer. — W. P. Curtis. Time. — All day. 



Date.— Early August, 1916. Sex.—? 



Place. — Arish Mell, Dorset. Duration. — Casual. 



Food. — A number of Cuckoos, collected at this place preparatory to 

 migration, seemed to me to make a regular practise of eating Zyyaena 

 filipemhdae at rest and in copula. There were countless thousands and 

 larvas ; but it is inexpedient to carry field glasses (if you value them) 

 on the Dorset coast. 



