THE YOUNG 



NOTES, CAPTURES, &C. 



Pieris rap.e in December. — To-day (Dec. 

 30th.) a friend of mine brought me a small 

 garden white (P. rapw ) which he said he had 

 found in the house flying round the lamp. 

 Does it hybernate all winter ? the insect is 

 quite lively now. — H. Thompson, Coventry. 

 [P. rapa passes the winter in the pupa state. 

 The above specimen had, no doubt, been in- 

 :roduced into the house with vegetables, or 

 aerhaps crept in of its own accord when in 

 :he larva state, gone into pupa state in some 

 ;nug corner, and by the extra warmth had 

 leveloped before its proper time. — Eds.] 



P. Populi in October. — Mr. Gregson 

 nentions in his useful notes of Oct. that P. 

 . Populi may be taken. I shall be glad to 

 know if it is not placed there by accident ? 

 as all the information I have access to leads 

 me to believe it emerges from the pupa to- 

 wards the end of Nov. (It emerged on the 

 ' 24th, from my own breeding cage). — II. A. 

 ■Vndrews. 



Ortolan Bunting at Eton. — The followi- 

 ng may interest some of the readers of the 

 Yo'.mg Naturalist. About the end of June or 

 Deginning of July, 1878, I had the good for- 

 une to find near Eton the nest of an Ortolan 

 - Bunting, containing eggs. At the time I did 

 ifl lot know what the eggs were, but when in Lon- 

 don I took them to a well-known Naturalist, 

 ,vho after a careful examination pronounced 

 hem to be those of the Ortolan Bunting. 

 The nest was placed low down in a stunted 

 msh.— B.C. A. 



' TO CORRESPONDENTS. 



P.T.D., Edgbaston. — Proper entomological 

 pins may be obtained from the dealers who 

 advertise on our back page. Your insects 

 are as follows : — a X. rurea var combasta, b s 

 and t N. xanthographa ; c q r & u N. /estiva ; 

 d & BB T. vubricosa ; e L. testacea ; f M. 

 styigilis ; g A. tragopogonis ; h H. grisealis of 

 " Doubleday's list," //. nemoralis of " Stain- 

 [H ton's Manual," one of the Deltoides ; i M. 



NATURALIST. 75 



rivate ; j M . fascinucula ; k C. urumata ; 1 H. 

 progemmaria var.fuscata ; m H.oleracea; nH. 

 abruptaria, the best insect in your box. if it is 

 common with you the members of our Ex- 

 change Club would be glad if you would 

 collect a few during the coming spring ; o E. 

 lucpara; p C. suffumata; v P. cvtisaria, much 

 faded ; w //. micaea ; x C. lestata : y too much 

 worn to name; z C. corylata ; cc C.graminis ; 

 aa X.cerago. The eggs are 1 Greenfinch; 2 

 Chaffinch, rather a good variety ; 3 Ray's 

 wagtail; 4 probably Blue Tit, but cannot say 

 unless we know situation of nest. 



CoRRKGlNDA : British Ferns. Error. — 

 Poly. Alpinum page 350, should be Poly. 

 Alpestve ; and Polyst. al pest re, page 365, should 

 be Polyst alpinum. 



BRITISH BIRDS; THEIR 

 NESTS AND EGGS. 



S. L. Mosley. 



Genus IV., Buteo, Flem. 



Buteo. — (?) 



The birds of this genus are of moderate 

 size. The head is small in proportion to the 

 rest of the body, and rather flattened. A 

 space round the eye is bare, or clothed with 

 stiff bristles. The wings are rounded, the 

 third or fourth quill-feather being the longest ; 

 when closed they reach near to the end of 

 the tail. The tail is moderately long, and 

 rather rounded at the end. The legs are 

 longer than in the true falcons, but the feet 

 and bill smaller in proportion. Two species 

 are found in Brita! 1, which may easily be 

 separated by refere ice to the italicised sen- 

 tences in the following descriptions : — 



4, BUZZARD. 

 Buteo Vulgaris, Flem. 

 Shreak(S.W. England). 

 Puddock (S. E. England). 

 La Buse (France). 



