1890.] THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



at getting started but Avhen well on the wing they have a remarkably 

 strong rapid flight and it takes a very hard blow to bring one down. 

 They have a curious habit when flushed of taking a long flight, some- 

 times going right out of sight and remaining on the wing for 20 min- 

 utes or more, and then pitching again within 200 yards or so of the 

 spot from which they rose. Some fine rocketing shots may be ob- 

 tained by hiding a short distance from some tank at which the grouse 

 come down to drink, and this, I take it, is quite the most satisfactory 

 way to kill them. 



The cry of the Common Sand-grouse is a kind of chattering call 

 which sounds like ' Buk-tee-buk, Buk-tee-buk,' repeated over and over 

 again. They only utter this when on the wing, and when on the 

 ground are invariably silent. There cry is so penetrating that it can 

 often be heard before the bird appears in sight. This Sand-grouse 

 has an inordinately thick skin, and the flesh is a trifle hard ; it is, 

 however, very well flavoured, and the young birds are distinctly good 

 eating. 



NOTES ON LEAF-UNITING LARVAE, NOT 

 TORTRICINE. 



By ALBERT H. WATERS, B.A., F.S Sc. Lond., Etc. 



Young Naturalists having learnt the little wriggling caterpillars 

 which fasten together or fold plum, elm, lime tree, and other leaves in 

 the spring and summer months are the larvae of tortricine moths, 

 are apt to imagine all leaf-uniting larvae they meet with, to be likewise 

 those of tortrices, but this is far from being the case, as the present 

 article will shew. 



Among butterflies the larvae of the Skippers have the leaf-rolling 

 and leaf-uniting habit as those of the Grizzle ( Sy victims alveolus ), which 

 inhabit rolled raspberry leaves in the spring; and those of Dingy skipper 

 (Thanaos tages ), the pale green larvae of which folds leaves of Bird's-foot 

 trefoil on hill slopes in its localities, in the spring and autumn ; the Com- 

 mon skipper (Hesperia sylvanus ) and the Pearl skipper (Hcsperia line a J, 

 both of which live in rolled up grass leaves, and both of which are 

 green, the latter with two white dorsal lines and two others on each 

 side, the former dull green with darker dorsal line and brown head ; 

 also the dull green larva of the Pearl skipper which feeds on bird's-foot 

 trefoil growing on the chalky hills in its localities. 



