32i 



THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



I ever think with feelings of pleasure of my 

 visits to Flamboro' Head. 



The sea is clear as crystal, the rocks are 

 white chalk or limestone, with lines of flint 

 'and gypsum spar. In the highest parts 

 every shelf is tenanted by sea-birds — 

 Guillemots, Razorbills, Puffins and Kitti 



. wakes, with their eggs and young. These 

 four species exist in countless thousands- 

 Rock Doves breed there not uncommonly, 

 and the Rock Pipit may be met with among 

 the stones and shingle at the foot. Now 



'and then a Peregrine or a White-tailed 

 Eagle will pay a visit, creating consternation 



' among the rightful owners of the cliffs. 



Now, the Head is quite different : no 

 gunners are permitted to molest the birds 

 during the breeding season, and to some 

 extent this is only right and proper, but I 

 cannot help thinking that some persons 

 carry their zeal too far. I do not approve 

 of cruelty, and would condemn it in all cases, 

 but if it comes to a matter of right, one 

 person has as much right to "sport" among 

 guillemots as another has to "sport" among 

 red grouse. If the shooter be a bird stuffer 

 and goes in for earning bread and cheese, 

 he has the same right. The plea that the 

 birds are protected for the sake of the 

 fishermen is but a weak argument for the 

 birds feed upon the very fish the men wish 

 to catch, and I now hear that the fishermen 

 complain that there are no fish ; the men 

 have caught the old fish and the birds have 

 eaten the young, so there are none to catch ; 

 and when a few years it was a good fishing 

 station, now, a party goes out and returns 

 to their dismay, and to the misery of their 

 wives and families, with the lamentable 

 haul of " three herrings." 



NATURAL HISTORY DIARY: 



By J. W. Carter. 

 August 2nd. Took C. immanata and C. 

 graminis from flowers of ragwort. House 

 Martins flocking ; the main body migrated 



long before the average date. The same 

 remark applies to last year. (E.P.P.B.) 



August 4th. Took C. trapezina at sugar, 

 also N. umbrosa at ragwort, H. sylvinus on 

 the wing. Saw a splendid specimen of N. 

 dahlii at ragwort, but failed to capture it. 

 (E.P.P.B.) 



August 5th. V. uvticce out. (E.P.P.B.) 



August nth. N. dahlii fairly out, at rag- 

 wort. (E.P.P.B.) 



August 1 2th. 0. suspecta swarmed at rag- 

 wort. We also heard Golden Plovers 

 migrating. (E.P.P.B.) 



August 14th. Saw a young Cuckoo on 

 Black Hills ; a Titlark was feeding it. The 

 Cuckoo almost invariably lays its eggs in 

 the nest of this species, at least in this 

 locality, and I believe in all the northern 

 counties of England. (E.P.P.B.) 



August 20th. Took two or three specimens 

 of Polia chi, var. olivacea, on old walls near 

 Bingley. This variety is not at all uncom- 

 mon in this district, though I believe the 

 greater number of the specimens found are 

 taken from walls near or around the high 

 and barren moorland. Took A.oculea, C. 

 immanata, 0. suspecta, and N. Dahlii at rag- 

 wort fllowers, the latter species no uncom- 

 monly. We also observed a specimen of 

 P. rapa sleeping on flowers of Scabiosa 

 succisa. (J.F. and J.W.C.) 



August 21st. Visited the ragwort, N. 

 dahlii swarmed. I could have filled, with- 

 out difficulty, a hundred boxes. When I 

 had filled my limited number of boxes, the 

 next best patches of flowers had no less than 

 six Dahlii upon them. Some of the varieties 

 were very dark. It was a real Dahlii night, 

 as the 12th was a Suspecta night. What was 

 the most striking feature was that on the 

 1 2th and 21st inst., Suspecta and Dahlii were 

 nearly the only two species that visited that 

 particular flower. (E.P.P.B.) 



August 22nd. H. nictitans at ragwort 

 flowers. (J.A.B.) 



August 24th. 5. dubitata out. (E.P.P.B.) 



