12 



THE YOUNG 



NATUEALTST. 



GoDWiTS. — Saw three with red breasts on 

 the i8th August. 



Black Tern. — The only one I saw was 

 on the 31st August. 



Common Tern. — Several seen on the 3rd 

 August. 



Lesser Terns, Redshanks, and Ringed 

 Plovers. — These birds are very numerous ; 

 they breed here every year. 



Oystercatchers. — Four seen on the 23rd 

 August and one shot. 



Squa. — I saw one chasing a gull on the 

 2 1 St September : I think it was a Richard- 

 son's Squa. 



Snow Bunting. — I obtained a beautiful 

 specimen in mature plumage on the 29th 

 September. 



Golden-crested Wren. — First seen 

 October 3rd, evidently just arrived, as it 

 was so fatigued that it allowed itself to be 

 captured by hand. 



Jack Snipe. — Saw and shot the first on 

 the 7th October. 



Shore Lark. — Saw two running on the 

 beach on the 7th October. 



Hooded Crows. — These birds arrived on 

 the night of the 7th or morning of the 8th 

 October : on the former date not one was 

 to be seen, whilst on the latter several were 

 seen. The following are the dates of arri- 

 vals : — 188 D, first seen nth October; 1811, 

 3rd October (vide Y.N., vol. ii., page 350) ; 

 1882, 8th October.— F. Kerry, Harwich. 



NOTES ON COLEOPTERA, 

 FOR BEGINNERS. 



By Dr. J. W. Ellis and Mr. Smedley, 

 Liverpool. 



When the idea of publishing with the 

 "Young Naturalist," plates which should 

 contain figures of all the British Beetles 

 was communicated to me by one of the 

 Editors, the thought occurred to me, that 

 a series of short articles on the British 

 Coleoptera— especially on those genera, 

 which are at the same time rich in species, 

 and where many of the species are common 



and generally di'-.tributed, would be of service 

 to some of our younger coleopterists, in 

 helping them to name some, at least, of 

 their captures, and in saving them the 

 necessity of troubling their more advanced 

 friends with "common things." Remember- 

 ing the time we both have spent (and still 

 spend) over some beetles, poring over 

 the pages of Cox, Stephens and Dawson, in 

 endeavouring to make quite sure of the 

 name of a species under consideration, Mr. 

 Smedley, when the idea was mentioned to 

 him, at once acquiesced in the proposal that 

 we should, in a series of short articles, en- 

 deavour to impart some of the knowledge 

 we have learned by experience to our more 

 inexperienced friends. The small size of 

 many of the British coleoptera, and the 

 minute differences in structure which often 

 separate allied species — differences too, 

 which, though easily seen when two species 

 are compared side by side, are very difficult 

 to explain in words, and the very necessary 

 requirement of an amount of "power of 

 discrimination" only to be gained by long 

 experience, makes the naming of this group 

 of insects often a matter of considerable 

 difficulty. In many cases, too, before a 

 correct decision can be arrived at as to the 

 name of a specimen, a certain amount of 

 dissection is requisite, which spoils the 

 specimen for the cabinet — and therefore is 

 not to be thought of except where several 

 individuals of a species have been obtained, 

 unless the specimen be sacrificed at the 

 shrine of " nomenclature," a proceeding I 

 fancy not many of my readers will care to 

 adopt — one certainly I never could adopt 

 myself. 



A hand-book to the British Beetles which, 

 while expressing the points of difference 

 between allied species in a concise manner, 

 shall be condensed into a volume easily 

 carried into the field, is a great desideratum 

 to collectors. I have in view a book not so 

 generally known as I think it should be to 



