182 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



Vanessa Cardui. — Mr. Gregson has a dwarf of this species also, two pale 

 varieties, and one without the black spots that cross from the base to the 

 inner margin of the fore- wing. 



Vanessa Polychloeos. — The only variety I saw of this species is in Mr. 

 Capper's collection. It is dark brown in colour, with the usual spots. 



(To be continued. 



REVIEW. 



The Westmoreland Note Book and Natural History Record. 



The Second part of this quarterly has reached us, and fully maintains the 

 character of its predecessor. The list of Sedges is now completed, and is 

 followed by an interesting account of the origin and progress of the " Kendal 

 Natural History Societies." We do not propose to go into this, but would 

 call attention to one fact. The first of the Kendal Natural History Societies 

 was formed early in the century, but in the year 1818, a contested election 

 roused such strong party spirit that it, " not only inflicted a fatal blow on the 

 Natural History Society, but produced great social differences which long 

 survived the event." A well arranged list of the Cambrian and Silurian 

 fossils of the district in the Kendal Museum follows ; and then " A List of 

 the "Birds of the Lake District," by Mr. John Watson, of Kendal. An 

 account of four birds only, the Golden, White-Tailed, and Spotted Eagles, and 

 the Osprey, is given in the present part. 



NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS. 



Bigamy and Polygamy among Starlings. — It is over fifty years since 

 my attention was drawn, during the early days of my bird-nesting career, to 

 the subject, viz., three and four adult birds to a nest. 



In one of my father's fields was an apple tree, in which, about four feet 

 from the ground, was a hole about fifteen or eighteen inches deep, and suffi- 

 ciently large to readily admit starlings, which annually availed themselves of 

 it, in which to construct their nest. I was a boy of a bird-nesting dis- 

 position, and very anxious to capture the adult birds on the nest, which 

 afterwards I gave their liberty, after a careful examination. I was often 

 frustrated by the watchful starlings, and when I succeeded in capturing an 

 adult, there was very quickly more than one starling in the tree, creating a 



