The TOUHO HATOEAIIST : 



A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 123. MARCH 18th, 1882. Vol. 3. 



A DAY^S SHELL HUNTING 

 NEAR BIRMINGHAM. 



By Geo. F. Wheeldon and P. T. Deakin. 



ON Sunday last, the 5th March, 

 after providing ourselves with 

 pill boxes and a small basket, we took 

 train for Perry Barr, and after twenty 

 minutes riding arrived there. Leaving 

 the station we turned towards Walsall, 

 and a walk of a few minutes brought 

 us to the valley of the Tame, where 

 we stayed a short time watching the 

 rooks flying about their nests, in a 

 group of trees on the river's bank. 

 Near here our first captures were made, 

 a fine specimen of Zonites cellarius, 

 among the dead leaves at the foot of a 

 wall. Continuing our way for half a 

 mile, with thorn hedges on each side 

 of the road just coming into leaf, and 

 the banks covered with flowers of the 

 Dog's Mercury [Mercurialis perennis) , 

 we came to where the road passes over 

 the canal. Larks now began to be 

 seen and heard, rising out of the ad- 

 joining fields ; one rose close to the 

 hedge, and at about ten feet high was 

 right over the centre of the highway, 

 there it stopped flattering and singing 

 for a few moments when it soared up 



again and was almost lost to sight. 

 The Blue Titmice {Panes coeruleus), 

 next made their appearance, playing 

 about the hedges and keeping a few 

 yards in front of us. The Hedge 

 Sparrows {A. modularis), and Chaf- 

 finches {F. coelehs) were singing in the 

 hedges and trees by the wayside. Soon 

 after passing into Great Barr we came 

 upon a damp sandy bank covered with 

 a luxuriant carpet of moss. This 

 proved to be a fine locality, for we 

 took several Helix nemoralis, also 

 variety hortensis (hybernated), both 

 plain yellow and the banded specimens, 

 and some fair Zonites nitidus, whilst 

 Helix Totundata and the rare Cochlicopa 

 tridens were very abundant, two or 

 three being under every piece of moss. 

 After leaving this bank nothing of 

 interest was noticed for the next two 

 or three miles till we came to the Eush- 

 all Canal, where we turned to the left 

 down the towing path. The canal 

 here is cut through a bed of Wenlock 

 limestone, and fossils are plentiful, 

 both in the rock itself and washed 

 down by the rain. In less than twenty 

 minutes we had secured some fine 

 (fossil) specimens of ^^r^^a reticularis j 



