THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



123 



NOTES, CAPTURES, &c. 



Bohemian Waxwing or Chatterer 

 (Ampelis ^arrula). — A beautiful specimen of 

 this species was killed on January 30th by a 

 boy with a catapult, at Rednall Hall, near 

 BromsgTove Lickey. I saw the specimen in 

 the flesh at Mr. Coburn's. the taxidermist. 

 Birmingham. This rare bird is rather an 

 interesting addition to the fauna of the 

 Birmingham District. 



Tan. I2th, 1882. Li.mn.ea stagnalis.— 



I ■' 



I Took a good series in a pool at Selly Oak, 

 I one of them was the variety Alba. 



LiMNJEA PEREGRA. — Took One small speci- 

 men in the above locality. 



Jan. 25th. Helix rotund.ata. — Took 

 about twenty under dead leaves and rubbish 

 round trees at Selly Oak. 



Zonites nitidus. --Found two under dead 

 leaves at Selly Oak. 



LiMN.BA STAGNALIS. -Found one in Pebble 

 Mill Pool, Edgbaston. 



Feb. 3rd. — Saw a flock of redwings pick- 

 ing up food in a field at Sellywick. — I'. T. 

 Deakin. Edgbaston. 



The Dipper. — In the extract from the 

 Birmingham paper given in the Y.N. of 

 Feb. 4th. it is staled that the Dipper (Cinclus 

 aquaticus) " is of extremely rare occurrence 

 in the midlands, being found in some of the 

 wilder portions of the Yorkshire moors and 

 I Scotch hill districts." It is not the case 

 I with regard to this part of West Worcester- 

 shire, where these birds are very numerous. 



■ There were fifteen nests found by one stream 

 last spring. It is, however, only within the 



! last few years that they have been so ex- 

 ' ceedingly common, but there have always 



■ been some in this neighbourhood. — N. 

 Prescott Decie, Bockleton Court, Ten- 

 bury, Worcestershire. 



Insects, &c., Imported in Wool. — A 

 friend here who is in the habit of picking 

 up all he sees in the shape of animal remains. 



has recently handed over to me a twelve 

 months' accumulation picked from wool 

 imported from Australia and Russia, and I 

 was much surprised with the quantity and 

 variety of them. The two lots have been 

 kept separately, and among the Russian 

 things there are about thirty beetles and 

 almost as many species, including a speci- 

 men of our British rose beetle (Cdonui 

 aurata). There is also a specimen of a green 

 lizard. Among the Australian collection 

 there are about sixty specimens of coleoptera, 

 including one hydradephagous beetle, very 

 similar to. if not identical with, our Dytiscus 

 margindlis. There are also some grasshop- 

 pers, some hemipterous insects, centipedes, 

 frogs, fish, and in lepidoptera one specimen 

 of the ubiquitous Trtph^na pronuba. A most 

 curious and hererogenous assembly, I must 

 admit.— J. W. Carter. 



Phigalia pilosaria, Ac. — This morning 

 I had a walk to Shipley Glen and took three 

 or four specimens each of pilosaria and 

 H. leucophearia, but neither species are as yet 

 so common as I expect they should be from 

 the great abundance of larval there was 

 feeding last June. Both species are con- 

 i siderably below the average size : but this 

 is not to be wondered at, as the larvae of 

 these and of the "winter moths," together 

 with those of Tortn'j vinJana, had denuded 

 I the trees of every green leaf long before 

 many of them were full fed. The first speci- 

 men of P. pilosaria recorded to me here was 

 taken on the 14th January.— J. W. Carter, 

 Bradford. February 5th, 1882. 



j Skylark s Eggs laid in Co.nfinement, 

 — Mr. Harker has sent us the eggs referred 

 I to in his note on page 75. Two of them 

 laid the first year are pale greyish white, 

 darkening to slate grey at the broad end. 

 They are dull in colour, not bright as sky- 

 larks eggs are. These are very small, not so 

 large as the eggs of the meadow pipit. Two 

 laid the following year are more like the 



