188 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



a local bird, and nowhere numerous. Stray individuals, most frequently in 

 winter, have found their way into the midland counties, less often to York- 

 shire, and one has been met with as far north as Banff. 



Abroad it is met with in the South of Europe. In Holland, Belgium, 

 and Heligoland it is only a rare visitor. It is more or less common in the 

 South of France, Spain, Portugal, the Crimea, and Algeria. 



Nest. — The nest is placed in a bush, just above the ground, or sometimes 

 on the ground itself, on a sloping bank. It is composed of dried stems of 

 grass and moss, lined with bents and hair. 



Eggs. — Four or five is the usual number. They resemble those of the 

 Yellowhammer, but are rounder, and have the markings usually more defined, 

 there not being so many continuous fine lines, they being mostly short, and 

 ending in a dot. The markings are black, and seldom shaded so much with 

 brown as in those of the Yellowhammer. 



"Varieties occasionally occur without any markings. 



REVIEW. 



Notes on Lepidoptera observed in the Neighbourhood of 

 Sandridge, Herts. — By A. F. Griffith, M.A. 



This is a list of very different character to that reviewed some little time 

 ago, " A List of Yorkshire Lepidoptera," by Mr. G. T. Porritt. That was 

 a complete county list, and included the work of all Yorkshire collectors, who 

 had recorded their captures, with localities and other particulars. This is 

 a record of the species taken by the writer and his brother "in a 

 district about six miles long and two miles wide, having the village of Sand- 

 ridge at about its middle point." It appears to be the first attempt at a 

 catalogue of Hertfordshire Lepidoptera that has yet been made. The writer 

 says that the Rev. P. 0. Morris, in his "British Butterflies," records but six 

 species for it, and one of these (C. davus) is an error. Stainton does not 

 mention a single species in his " M anual," and Newman passes it also in 

 silence. Yet Mr. Griffith's list shows that the county of Herts is by no 

 means wanting in Lepidoptera. It does not include the Tineina, yet these 

 two gentlemen, within the 12 square miles over which they have collected, 

 have managed to find no less than " 514 species out of a total of about 1350 

 known to occur in Great Britain." The introduction to the list is of con- 

 siderable interest, briefly describing the features of the county, noting the 

 best places for collecting, and a few of the more interesting species likely to 



