THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



275 



and female), easiata, Blackhills ; C. 

 auffumata and C fcrrngata, Bingley 

 Wood. June 17, A. fuviata (several), E. 

 la/nciata, and A. imrylujrccb. June i8th, A. 

 menyanthidiSy II. velleda (barely out), C. 

 oorylata. It has been the worst year, so 

 far, for lepidoptera, since we began col- 

 lecting. — E. P. P. BuTTERFiELD, Wilsdcn, 

 uear Bingley, Yorkshire. 



Birmingham Notes.— May 25th. I heard 

 the cuckoo to-night after dark. 



May 27th. — Saw a green woodpecker in 

 Holly Hurst. I heard this bird tapping a 

 tree from a distance of over a quarter of a 

 mile. I crept up to the place cautiously, 

 and observed it at work high up on a tall 

 oak-tree. Every now and then it would 

 give a series of sharp pecks with its beak on 

 the trunk to peel off the bark. The noise 

 made sounded very much like a walking- 

 stick being struck very hard on the trunk of a 

 tree, or like something being tapped quickly 

 inside an empty cigar box. It would go too 

 — too — too — too, every so long, and then it 

 would peck off the insects that had been 

 revealed. It seemed a very shy bird. The 

 instant it observed, me it was off; but I 

 . heard it at work on other trees. A large 

 patch on a tree where it had been at work 

 was quite stripped off the bark. I have 

 , come across several others lately, and had 

 \ much pleasure in observing their habits. 

 I Took one lodU lactearia and one Eupi- 

 \^tJiecia virgaureata and other moths on trunks 

 of trees in Holly and Lower Nut Hurst. 

 (Took first //. humuli this season (male spcci- 

 tmen. This is very early. There was a 

 I great swarm of gnats this evening by Wind- 

 ley Pool : they were so numerous that they 

 could not be seen through, and they cast a 

 dark shadow on the ground. 



May 2Sth. — Saw a cuckoo chased by a 

 lock of small birds. Lepidoptera captures : 

 Gum Slade) 1] ruin (plentiful), L. argiolus 

 several), one P. jMccas, C. pimphilus (very 

 i )lentiful), P. rapcc (very plentiful), one 



P. hrassiccs, T. automaria (very plentiful), 

 E.paluniharia (very plentiful), one P. gamma 

 flying in sunshine, and many others. 



May 29th. — (Gum Slade) Captured a fine 

 female specimen oi A. fidig'mosa It laid a 

 number of eggs, from which I am breeding 

 the larvae. Took one Y. ivipluviata, &c., 

 cS:c. (Middleton Wood) Pheasant's nest 

 with sixteen eggs, goldfinch's with five, and 

 others. — W. H. Bath, Sutton. 



Birmingham Notes.— June 24th. Saw 

 four jackdaws in a field near Handsworth 

 Old Church, also a spotted flycatcher hawk- 

 ing for flies. 



Three splendid specimens of the Common 

 Tern ( Sterna Jimiatilus) were killed at the 

 Edgbaston reservoir on the 23rd, one male 

 and two females. Several species of sea 

 birds are seen there occasionally, but al- 

 though the reservoir is a tremendous sheet 

 of water, none of the birds breed there. 



June 26th. — I had the pleasure of seeing 

 a splendid specimen of the Little Gull 

 (Larus minutus), killed somewhere in Scot- 

 land. It was sent to Mr. Spicer, the taxi- 

 dermist, of Birmingham, for preservation, 

 and is now the property of Robert Chase, 

 Esq., of Edgbaston. This gentleman is a 

 well-known amateur naturalist, and has the 

 most beautiful collection of British birds I 

 ever saw. On the bird being dissected it 

 proved to be a good old male. This bird is 

 extemely rare. 



A very fine specimen of the Night Jar or 

 Goat Sucker (Capri in ulj us Europeus) was 

 killed at Ashburton, South Devon. This 

 bird is known by a great number of fictitious 

 names. Its food is principally beetles; 

 sometimes they feed on moths. On dissect- 

 ing it I found the stomach quite empty. In 

 the stomach of one I had last year I found 

 four or five perfect beetles. 



The Nightingale was heard singing near 

 Smethwick on the 23rd. — Alexander Geo. 

 Davis, B.N.F.C, Birmingham. 



