THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



85 



plover; a very unusual melanic variety of 

 the redwing ; a pure white red-backed 

 shrike ; and a pair of British bee-eaters 

 brings us half-way round the hall. Now let 

 { us go to the other side and take a glance at 

 the most recent addition to the British list 

 —the Egyptian nightjar, killed last year by 

 Mr. Whitaker's keeper, and by a most 

 miraculous chance saved from careless 

 destruction and falling a victim to popular 

 ignorance on natural history subjects. This 

 is the first occurrence of this bird in Britain 

 and only the second in Europe, and Mr. 

 Whitaker has had a stone with an inscrip- 

 tion upon it erected on the very spot where 

 the bird fell when it was shot. The next 

 case is also a great rarity — the only British 

 specimen of the Alpine chough. Another 

 rare bird is the hoopoe, the best I ever saw. 

 On the top there is a good variety of the 

 lapwing ; but another not yet cased beats it 

 far, so evenly and beautifully pied with 

 distinct patches of pure white. We cannot 

 see all at first sight. During my three days' 

 stay I made over seventy sketches of his 

 most beautiful varieties, and almost every 

 number of " British Birds" will now contain 

 one or more figures from this collection. 



Outside, within twenty yards of the door, 

 is a small island upon the lake where every 

 year the tufted duck comes to breed — a 

 bird which is so rare in other parts of 

 Britain in the summer, and is not known to 

 breed regularly anywhere else, comes here 

 evidently because they are cared for and 

 protected. The first day of my stay we had 

 a stroll which I very much enjoyed. We put 

 up thirty teal, four mallards, and four tufted 

 ducks, all paired and evidently preparing to 

 breed. 



In the wood we found the tits common, 

 and some of the spring insects were out. 

 A few good specimens of Hybemia kucophe- 

 aria and Phi%alia pilosaria were taken from 

 the trees. Mr. Whitaker told me that these 

 swarmed upon the trees even before Christ- 



mas, and that when he was last in the wood 

 all the ground was strewn with their wings, 

 the bodies having taken a voyage down the 

 throats of tom-tits. I had intended going 

 to this wood again, but next morning the 

 wind was in the east ; still, in the evening 

 I found a few Hybemia rupicapraria and one 

 specimen of H. progemmaria in the plantation 

 behind the house. 



It is impossible for me to mention all. I 

 have now my sketch-book before me, and 

 the extreme beauty of many of the varieties 

 is my only excuse for troubling the reader 

 with these few short notes. 



LANCASHIRE AND CHES- 

 HIRE ENTOMOLOGICAL 

 SOCIETY. 



THE PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



The Annual meeting of the above society 

 was held at the museum, William Brown 

 Street, on Monday evening, 28th January, 

 when the following officers were elected, 

 viz : — Mr. Samuel James Capper, president ; 

 Mr. E. D. Fish, vice-president, and Dr. 

 J. W. Ellis, secretary. 



The President, in his inaugural address, 

 congratulated the members on the continued 

 prosperity of the society, now in the eighth 

 year of its history. During this time it had 

 not been an idle society. A considerable 

 number of talented, practical, and interest- 

 ing papers had been contributed by the 

 members, many of a first class order, so 

 much so that they had been published, so 

 that the information they contained might 

 be more extensively circulated. Early in 

 the year, the Secretary, Dr. Ellis, was 

 appointed by the society recorder of 

 economic entomology for the county of 

 Lancashire, and they had issued a circular 



