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A Penny Weekly Magazine of Natural History. 



No. 133. MAY 27th, 1882. Vol. 3. 



THE WREN'S NEST, 

 DUDLEY. 



By p. T. Deakin and G. F. Wheeldon, 

 Birmingham. 



ON Saturday, the 6th April, we 

 went with a party of between 

 twenty and thirty naturalists by the 

 2.50 p.m. train to Dudley. Arrived 

 there by about half-past three, and 

 started off for the Wren's Nest (which 

 is a well-known geological locality of 

 the Silurian period) through the mar- 

 ket, the noise from which was almost 

 deafening, being market day, from the 

 cries of crock and fruit vendors and 

 the shouting of a Salvation Army 

 preacher standing on a high stool in 

 the middle of an open-mouthed crowd. 

 Pushing our way through all this, and 

 turning off to the right, down a side 

 street, a walk of about ten minutes 

 brought us to the meadows at the foot 

 of the Wren's Nest Hill, where we 

 heard the corncrake fCrea; pratenmj, 

 A little farther on was a pond, and 

 there nearly half the party stopped for 

 a few minutes fishing witli the gravy 

 strainers, as the wag of the party 



politely called our nets. In the pond 

 we found lAmncea stagnalis and peregra 

 in abundance, accompanied in smaller 

 quantities by Flanorhis vortex. We 

 also drew in a miscellaneous collection 

 of water beetles, dragon-fly larvae, 

 ephemerae, water scorpions, leeches, 

 and different kinds of daphnia, &c. 

 As this was an old pond it was very pro- 

 lific in the usual specimens of pond life. 



We next made a move on the Wren's 

 nest, and in a sheltered valley about 

 half way up stayed with a few members 

 to hunt for land shells, &c., whilst the 

 rest went towards the top. Our first 

 capture was two or three Clamilia 

 rugosa, under a piece of limestone rock ; 

 under another piece we found Helix 

 hispida and H. Totundata\ then a 

 couple of R. arhustorum on stems of 

 grass. Whilst boxing the latter we 

 disturbed a shrew, which disappeared 

 down a hole amongst some loose rocks. 

 We next came across Bul'mus ohscurus 

 and one or two Cochlicojja luhrlca ; 

 then we boxed a couple of Helix nemo- 

 ralis var. hortensis olf a piece of dog's 

 mercury (Mercurialis 'pcrennls) ; Zo- 

 7iites nilidus and ccllarius next made 



