FAUNA OF THE "CEDARS," LEE, KENT. 255 



to sit at night, in a friendly way, by the West Lodge Pigeons, 

 looking, no doubt, for Mice. 



Sparrows, Starlings, and Wood-Pigeons are increasing here 

 (and I think everywhere else) enormously. The Wild Geese 

 (A. albifrons), which are not pinioned, nest at the pond regu- 

 larly ; they eat nothing but weeds and grass ; they are sometimes 

 accompanied by a Heron. I hang pierced cocoa-nuts out for the 

 Tits ; and the Great Tit, Blue Tit, and Coal-Tit seem to prefer 

 this to any other food. The Great Tit, I am glad to say, can 

 hold its own against any number of Sparrows. Nightingales 

 seems to have left us, but, as they have returned to " Brook- 

 lands," close by, they may perhaps favour us again. The Cuckoo 

 still remains faithful, though every spring we hear less of its 

 welcome note, owing, no doubt, to so many properties around 

 being amassed for building purposes. For years I have been 

 trying to get a clutch of Hedge- Sparrow's containing a blue 

 Cuckoo's egg ; and last year I succeeded. It is curious why a 

 Cuckoo's egg in Redstart's is nearly always blue, and yet hardly 

 ever blue in the Hedge- Sparrow's, although Redstarts' and 

 Hedge- Sparrows' eggs are almost identical. 



It is much more difficult to give an even fairly accurate list 

 of Lepidoptera, especially the night-flying and sober-coloured 

 moths. Still, by regular sugaring, using a moth-trap, and 

 taking advantage of nature's sweets, I have been able to cata- 

 logue the imagines of fourteen butterflies and ninety-three moths. 

 The butterflies are all of the commonest (but I live in hopes of 

 one day seeing antiopa on the over-night's sugar, as I did at 

 Bifrons last autumn). Our earliest, not counting hybernating 

 species, is the pretty little " azure blue " that appears in some 

 numbers every April (attracted, no doubt, by the fine old West 

 Lodge hollies). Of moths, the handsome Plusia moneta (it is 

 still without an English name), that suddenly invaded our 

 shores, is very common, and very conspicuous as a larva on our 

 larkspurs, and is very easily reared. The hawk-moths (lime and 

 poplar) are numerous as larva, pupa, and imago. A light variety 

 of populi is common and very handsome, and the little Humming- 

 bird Moth occasionally visits our pink geraniums. The Noctucs, 

 of course, are more easily attainable, owing to sugar ; and I find 

 methylated spirit the best draw. It is a pretty sight to watch 



