THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



189 



March 12. I have seen numbers of wild 

 ducks lately in the neighbourhood of Spade 

 Mill Pool. To-day I saw a few by Brace- 

 bridge Pool, they rose up high into the air, 

 and then flew off in a line. They quacked 

 just like the domestic duck. Coots also 

 begin to make their presence known. In 

 Upper Nut Hurst I saw a pair of flycatchers 

 hawking for flies. Saw a pair of field-fares. 

 I observed flying at a great height soaring 

 round and round a flock of about a dozen 

 sparrow hawks ; they were going in a 

 northerly direction. To-day there were 

 thousands of insects of all sorts flying in 

 the sun. Bees and wasps were very num- 

 erous. Saw great quantities of sunshine 

 beetles flying round the cow pats. There 

 were also a number of lady-birds with them. 



Birmingham Notes. March 14th. -Some 

 boys brought me to-day a robin's nest con- 

 taining five eggs that they had found on a 

 bank. The eggs had an appearance of being 

 laid several days. I was told that the old 

 birds had deserted it on account of its being 

 looked into so often. The nest was com- 

 posed of dried leaves, grass and moss, and 

 the inside was lined with cow and horse hair. 



March i8th. — Saw several wild ducks in 

 the park ; the flaps of their wings can be 

 heard a very long distance of. Saw a flock 

 of lapwings on the common. 



March 19th.— Saw the first grey wagtail 

 this year ; it was running along the grass 

 after flies by a brook. Saw great numbers 

 of skaters on the pools, and water beetles 

 and other insects in the brooks. Bullheads 

 and sticklebacks were very numerous. Ob- 

 served a number of brown lizards sunning 

 themselves among the heather. A very 

 large pike was seen the other day in Brace- 

 bridge Pool spawning. 



March 20th.— To-day at a Natural His- 

 tory Exhibition in Birmingham I saw sev- 

 eral vipers that were caught by a gentleman 

 in Sutton Park yesterday. 



March 25th. — The railway banks are now 



completely covered with the flowers of the 

 meadow coltsfoot {Tussilago farfara). 

 Daisies and dandelions are also coming out 

 in great abundance. Saw great quantities 

 of L.peregra in the Keeper's Pool, but only 

 a very few L. stagiiaUs. Took a few other 

 species of shells. Small trees always seem 

 to come into leaf before larger ones of the 

 same species. Pullets generally begin to 

 lay earlier in the year than old hens. Stock 

 doves \^C. cenas) — I should have said "Tur- 

 tle Doves {C. turtur)." — See Y.N. , No. 121, 

 p. 139, and No. 122, p. 147. Heaths {C. 

 vulgaris, E. c'uierea, and E. tctralix). As 

 Mr. J. W. Carter says these heaths are very 

 " persistent," we have had such mild weather 

 this winter that they looked quite fresh when 

 I saw them. — See Y.N., No. 116, p. 100, and 

 No. 122, p. 147. — W. H. Bath, Sutton, near 

 Birmingham. 



ENTOMOLOGY IN GERMANY. 



A German friend of mme says that the 

 butterflies in Germany outnumber ours by 

 very many, but the moths are not so 

 numerous in proportion. One morning he 

 caught twenty-five species of butterflies. 

 Hawn moths are very plentiful there also : 

 he caught fifteen one evening. They begin 

 to appear about seven p.m., and a good look 

 out on flower beds will sure to reveal them. 

 S. convolvuli, S. ligustyi, D. euphorbias, D. livor- 

 nica, C. celcrio, C.porcelliis, and C.cipenor : all 

 he has taken on flower beds ; but a very 

 rapid stroke must be made or they are off 

 in a second. He says it is very good sport 

 catching them. About half-a-dozen collec- 

 tors would stand round a flower bed watch- 

 ing for them like cats. Then all on a snddeu 

 there would be a clashing of nets. Some- 

 times they come into contact with each 

 other and get broken. 5. ocellatus, S. populi, 

 and S. tilU do not come to flowers. They 

 are so adapted that they do not require to 

 take any nourishment at all while they live: 

 they do not live many days. Ho says that 



