THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



109 



the Beaulieu road and Matley Bog. I use the word " nests " for want of a 

 better, but, as before remarked, the night-jars make no real nest at all. They 

 merely deposit their eggs on some beaten down piece of dry fern, among the 

 younaj fir trees. There were two eggs in the first instance, one of which we 

 took. The bird sat very close, and when disturbed only fluttered off a short 

 distance into the fern, returning with great boldness as soon as we had got 

 a few yards from her nest. In the second case there was only one egg, and 

 consequently the bird was not sitting. 



In Matley Bog we noticed the Bog Bean {Menyanthes trifoliata), and the 

 Alder Buckthorn (Rhamnus frangula), growing very plentifully. 



In the evening we sugared some of the large trees along the Beaulieu 

 River to the south of the Southampton Road, but met with wretched luck, 

 securing only five specimens, and those common ones. We met another 

 entomologist who also complained bitterly of the evening. 



The 11th was a detestable day, chill and drizzly, with a strong and by no 

 means warm south wind. In spite of the wet we went for a walk past Wil- 

 verly House, through Gritnom Wood, and into Hurst Hill enclosure, 

 but we might just as well have stayed at home, for we made no captures 

 worth mentioning all day. We found a wren's nest with a quantity of eggs, 

 in Gritnom Wood, and saw several green woodpeckers in the same place. 



The morning of the 12th, though an improvement on the day before, was 

 by no means so favourable as it might have been, for the sky was cloudy and 

 a strong south-west wind was blowing. About 12 o'clock we started along 

 the Beaulieu Road, intending to explore Denny Bog. On arriving at Matley 

 Passage, we turned off to the right, and beat a few larvse (unknown to us) 

 from the willows which grew by the little stream. Then crossing the road 

 we went down the stream for 60 or 70 yards, taking a number of Diptera 

 and one L. marginata among the rushes. We also took from the stream 

 specimens of Ranunculus peltatus and Apium inundatum for preservation. 

 A number of green plover were flying about the edge of the Bog. A short 

 distance further on, whilst making our way up a steep bank thickly covered 

 with heather, we noticed several A. myrtilli darting about in the bright sun- 

 shine, and we were soon engaged in trying to net some of these lovely little 

 moths. In this, however, partly owing to their rapid, jerky flight, and small 

 size, and partly to the roughness of the ground and the length of the heather, 

 we were quite unsuccessful, and the sun being obscured after a few minutes 

 the moths at once vanished, and we, feeling somewhat disgusted at our want 

 ot skill, sat down and endeavoured to console ourselves with sandwiches. 



On resuming our walk we turned off to the right of the road through a 

 sand-pit (in which we took two P. megcera), and soon found ourselves in a 



