NATURAL HISTORY RECORD BUREAU. 229 



jSish for himself ; in fact, we think that it was only in hope of 

 getting a mealworm that he condescended to accept the fish from 

 our hand. It is extraordinary what a fondness birds have for 

 this grub, which is the larva of a beetle. Another bird we have 

 in this aviary, and which likes the mealworm diet, is a Great 

 Spotted Woodpecker {Dendrocopus major). It was also for some 

 time extremely tame, and would fly on to one's shoulder or 

 breast to be fed on its favourite diet of mealworms. We have 

 had several other interesting birds in our aviary during the past 

 year, including the Bearded Eeedling or Bearded Tit, one of the 

 most beautiful of British small birds ; also the Bohemian Wax- 

 wing, a most docile bird in confinement, with its sleek silky 

 plumage and red waxen appendages to the ends of the secondary 

 wing feathers. We also had a Kedstart which lived over winter, 

 but unfortunately died in an early effort to moult. 



During the last year or two numerous letters have been 

 written to us recording rare plants found in the district, also 

 animals other than vertebrates. When the " Record Bureau " 

 at the Carlisle Museum was initiated, it was proposed to deal 

 only with the vertebrate animals of the district — Cumberland 

 and Westmorland and a radius of fifty miles around Carlisle — 

 but we wish to state now that if those persons who are students 

 of any branch of Natural History, including the lower animals 

 (Invertebrata) of all or any orders, botany, palaeontology, or 

 mineralogy, care to correspond with us upon such matters, we 

 will be pleased to place on record, in the same way in which we 

 treat the vertebrate animals, all records of invertebrate animals, 

 plants, fossils, or minerals. 



Mr. J. C. Varty Smith, of Penrith, writes that in June, 1908, 

 he found examples of a rare aquatic plant. Ranunculus circinatus, 

 in Thacka Beck, Penrith, previous records of this plant in 

 Cumberland being doubtful. 



Messrs. Chas. Piatt and David Dickenson both record the 

 rare orchis Goodyera repens, respectively, from Great Corby and 

 Ar math wait e in July, 1910. 



The following are the vertebrate notes and records sent in to 

 the Bureau during 1910 : — 



January 4th. — Song-Thrush singing at Troutbeck, Winder- 

 mere (Eric B. Dunlop). 



