THE 



cut a circular hole in a piece of stout cart- 

 ridge paper, about the same distance from 

 the top, with a small gun-wad punch. This 

 piece of paper should be about inches 

 square. I next gum the inside of the first 

 piece and lay the cartridge paper on one 

 half of it, taking care the centre of the 0 is 

 in the centre of the circle of the cartridge 

 paper. I then place in the circular hole a 

 piece of thin glass (as used for covering 

 objects on glass for microscopic purposes), 

 which may be cut square, small circles of 

 glass being expensive. The other part of 

 the gummed paper is then brought down on 

 the cartridge paper, thereby hiding the cart- 

 ridge paper and the angles of the glass, — 

 care being taken that the oval holes are 

 quite opposite.* This kind of mounting, 

 if well done, looks very neat. The glass 

 prevents the smaller flies from slipping 

 through. If, after a day's collecting, I find 

 that I have a number of ichneumons to kill, 

 I do it at the same time. In this case I re- 

 move them from the boiling water into a 

 glass of cold water, where they sometimes 

 have to remain for twenty-four hours, before 

 they are removed to the spirit bath, previous 

 to mounting. I do not recommend their 

 remaining in spirits over a quarter of an 

 hour, for they are very apt to get stiff if 

 allowed to remain too long. 



During the past year I have mounted 

 upwards of three thousand ichneumons, 

 mostly Microgasterides. These I place six 

 on a card, in pairs, — the last pair on their 

 backs ; and by the side I place the cocoons 

 from which they emerged, at the same time 

 making a note of the date oi going into cocoon 

 and of emerging, with the name of the victim. 



I may here remark that I place all my 

 ichneumon cocoons in glass-bottomed pill 

 boxes, with a note af&xed to them giving 



(4) I m a k e the holes in the cards in three sizes. It is 

 obvious that what would do for a large insect 

 would be much too large for a small one. 



NATURALIST. 59 



the date and name of the insect infested. 

 These are all arranged on their sides on 

 shelves in my "sanctum," so that on entering 

 the room I can at once see if there are any 

 "births." The small flies, if allowed to 

 remain, will soon die, and it is quite im- 

 possible to nicely mount them after they have 

 gone over to the "great majority " twenty- 

 four hours. 



Should any collector wish any further 

 instructions on this matter, if he will insert 

 the query in the Y.N., I will try to answer 

 it ; for what may be a difficulty with him 

 may also be so with another, who might be 

 too modest to ask the question. 



BRITISH BIRDS; THEIR 

 NESTS AND EGGS. 



By S. L. MosLEY. 



36. WHEATEAR. 

 Sylvia CEnanthe, Linn. 



CEnanthe. (?) 



Size. — Length, nearly 7 in. ; expanse 

 from II in. to 12 in. 



Plumage. — The male in adult summer 

 dress has the bill black. Eyes dark brown. 

 Crown of head and back bluish grey. A 

 broad streak of black extends from the bill 

 over and under the eye, embracing the ear 

 coverts. All the wings feather blackish, 

 with narrow pale margins. Rump and 

 upper tail feathers white, which gives the 

 bird the name of " White-rump," in many 

 parts of the North of England. The tail 

 has the two centre feathers black, the others 

 black at the tips only, and white at the 

 base. Throat and breast buff, shading ofif 

 to white at the vent. Legs black. 



The Adult Female has the top of the 

 head and back brown, the wing coverts and 

 quills blackish-brown, ear coverts brown ; 

 the rest of the plumage similar to the male, 

 but duller in colour. In winter the sexes 

 are more similar. 



