FIELD MEETINGS FOR 1916 22 1 



Perhaps the ornithologists were somewhat disappointed 

 with the scarcity of bird hfe. Throughout the journey some 

 of the commoner birds were noticed now and again; but it 

 was too late in the season to hear the song birds in full tune. 

 At one spot in the wood the clouded magpie moth {Abraxas 

 nlmata) was seen several times, and in the fields near 

 HoUingside the large meadow brown butterfly was frequently 

 seen. 



Before closing I would like to mention two or three 

 particulars which have come to my notice recently. 



1ST Note. — The Gorse or Whin {Ulex europceus) in my 

 neighbourhood is brown and withered, and appears to have been 

 entirely destroyed by the frosts. This is the first time in my 

 life that I have noticed similar destruction to this hardy ever- 

 green, which adds such beauty to our waste places and barren 

 hill sides, and at the first sight of which the great Linnaeus fell 

 prostrate for joy, the whin not being found in Sweden as the 

 climate is too severe for it. It is greatly to be deplored 

 that the blight on the whin has happened at present, as in our 

 time of scarcity it would have made excellent fodder for our 

 team horses and cattle when bruised by a mill, as of olden 

 days. 



2ND Note. — Many of our birds have fallen victims to the 

 long and severe winter — the robins and redwings in particular 

 have suffered. Both, being insectivorous in their diet, soon 

 showed signs of distress. 



3RD Note. — The lapwings or peewits which returned to 

 their old haunts in the early days of March have almost 

 entirely disappeared recently from the district, owing pre- 

 sumably to the cold frosty weather of April. Should these 

 very useful birds fail to return to the fields, the crops of the 

 neighbourhood will suffer great destruction in their young 

 growth, particularly from the slugs and snails which infest our 

 damp clayey soils in such numbers — the snails and slugs 

 being the chief food o'f the plovers, 



