180 



THE YOUNG 



NATURALIST. 



Birmingham Notes. February 12th. — 

 This morning was very fine and warm 

 for the time of the year. The air re- 

 sounded with birds. Skylarks singing on 

 high ; robins in every orchard and gar- 

 den ; the blackbird pouring forth his strains 

 from a holly bush ;' the hedge sparrow 

 perched on the top of a hedge ; while on 

 the chimney pots may be heard the screechy 

 starling ; under every eave the noisy house 

 sparrow ; the cawing of the rooks among 

 the nests close by ; built on the tops of the 

 highest trees the impudent jackdaw also ; 

 and in the woods one's voice is lost by the 

 merry twittering of the tits. 



The insects came out in abundance flying 

 in the sun. Gnats swaying to and fro among 

 the trees. I quite expected seeing some 

 hybernating butterfly, but a breeze sprung 

 up and my hopes were frustrated. 



Phigalia pilosavia was very plentiful on oak 

 trees, but I did not take any as I have as 

 many specimens as I want. 



Hybevnia progemmaria was plentiful. 



Saw a heron by Spade Mill Pool. 



Saw a flock of jays on the common, past 

 upper Nut Hurst. They are a great nuisance 

 with their screeching, giving the alarm to 

 every bird in their path. 



There were a number of small fishes in a 

 brook leading into Brace Bridge Pool. 



Throughout the last month I have not 

 seen one flock of fieldfares, although I have 

 seen a few singly now and then. 



Saw Hyhernia progemmaria in great abun- 

 dance at night. Took a very peculiar speci- 

 men on a window, being of a dark smoke 

 colour with scarcely any markings. 



February 19th. — Saw three Bullfinches 

 sunning themselves on a hawthorn-tree at 

 Sutton. Yellowhammers were very plenti- 

 ful in flocks on ploughed fields. Saw a flock 

 of Lapwings on ploughed fields near Penns. 

 They numbered about 160. I was enabled 

 to observe them very well with the aid of a 

 large telescope that I took with me. 



February 26th.— Saw a few Fieldfares in 

 the park. 



Phigalia jnlcsa^'la bears a very marked 

 resemblance to the lichens on the trunks of 

 the trees upon which it rests. When alive 

 it has a beautiful green tinge, but when dead 

 it seems to lose it. 



Hyhernia progemmaria looks very much 

 like a dead leaf. The same may be said in 

 regard to several other of the winter moths. 



March 6th. — Saw a large flock of starlings 

 at Sutton. They haven't all separated into 

 pairs yet, although many commenced to 

 build a fortnight ago. 



Parasite on a Fly.— The other day I 

 caught a small fly for the purpose of looking 

 at it through a microscope. Its wings ex- 

 hibited beautiful colours, but I observed on 

 the underside of its body, just between the 

 abdomen and thorax, a little ball clinging 

 to it. I picked it off with a penknife and 

 found ,that it moved. Its body was some- 

 what in the shape of a pear, and pointed at 

 one end. Its colour was reddish brown 

 edged with white, and altogether it had a 

 very transparent look about it. Underneath 

 it was creamy white. It had six legs and 

 two antennas, which were each composed of 

 several joints, and of a yellowish colour. 

 It walked very slowly, and waved its antennae 

 from side to side, both at the same time. I 

 did not discover any eyes. It had a pair of 

 minute horns between its antennae which I 

 believe were mandibles. It was a very 

 minute parasite. There were three others 

 on the fly, but two were not 2V the size of 

 the largest. They had very hard bodies like 

 Coleoptera, but in appearance they very 

 much resembled one of the Lepti or harvest 

 bugs. 



Foxes.— A gentleman remarks that foxes 

 are so fat in the neighbourhood of Sutton 

 that they are no good for sport as they can- 

 not run. One fox made its way into a farm- 

 house and killed a peacock and eat it all but 

 its head.— W. H, Bath. 



