54 



THE NATURALIST, 



following ■■ — *' Its flight is more sudden 

 and rapid than that of the redbreast, and I 

 observed the tail often raised like that of 

 the wren, particularly when pursued or 

 excited, as it often was by the robins, and 

 though it did not court the attack it was 

 ever ready for the fray, and with out- 

 stretched neck and upraised tail awaiting 

 the attack, it fought desperately, falling 

 with its assailant to the ground, where it 

 struggled on for a second or two, but on 

 taking wing seemed none the Avorse for the 

 encounter, and, perching on a tree, renewed 

 its song, which is very similar to that of 

 the redbreast, though not so loud, nor ics it 

 so prolonged. When singing the bill is 

 widely opened, the wings drooping and 

 vibrating with the tail, and in hopping 

 among the branches the wings were in con- 

 stant motion, as is observed in the hedge- 

 sparrow. I saw it hopping among the 

 decayed leaves in search of worms, and 

 noticed its beak crammed with them ; it 

 was also seen to alight on a path, along 

 which it swiftly ran, like a wagtail. Though 

 so restless a bird, it did not wander forty 

 yards from the spot where first seen during 

 the hour or more 1 observed it, and its 

 song was constantly renewed. It is not 

 only smaller than the redbreast, but a 

 neater looking bird, the plumage being 

 more even and close. Chin and upper part 

 of the throat of a grayish white, tinged 

 with yellow ; this gorget-like patch extends 

 to the cheeks and over the bill, which is 

 black, and longer and straighter than the 

 redbreast's, but not, I think, so stout, nor 

 is the eye so full. Breast of a dull bluish 

 colour, longitudinally streaked with reddish 

 brown, and slightly spotted and shaded 

 with a dull white ; the under parts of the 

 latter colour. Under part of the tail of a 

 darkish brown ; the external feathers 

 whitish. Head and back of a grayish 

 broAvn, Wings reddish brown ; tail darker. 

 The head proportionally larger than that 

 of the redbreast. The plumage has an im- 

 perfect appearance, the colours not being 

 well defined, ai^ in tjie young robin," 



Entomological: — In the Entomologisf» 

 Monthly Magazine for June, we find 

 recorded the capture of two species of Co- 

 leoptera new to Britain, Mr. D. Sharp has 

 taken ^Imis ntpreus, near Edinburgh ; he 

 thinks this species may be confounded in 

 British collections with E. nitens from 

 which it dilfers by being " rather smaller, 

 with oblique impressions on the thorax, 

 the posterior angles of which are not so 

 much directed outwards ; the strise of the 

 elytra are also more strongly punctate, and 

 the alternate interstices elevated." Mr. 

 Sharp has also taken in the same neighbour- 

 hood Olo2)hrum fuscwjfii. Grav. In the 

 same number, Mr. E. A. Eaton also notes 

 the occurrence of female specimens of the 

 imago of Cloen Rhodani, ' ' under stones 

 which were lying partially exposed 

 in a stream near Cambridge. When lifted 

 up into the air, they crawled down again 

 to the surface ; and those which were 

 closely observed, after feeling about with 

 their fore -legs, voluntarily entered the 

 water." The Eev, E, Horton records the 

 capture of a good specimen of J^ylina con- 

 spuillaris taken at rest on a small oak in a 

 wood near Worcester. Mr. William Cole 

 records the capture of a pair of Notodonta 

 carmelita, on the Bishop's palings at West 

 Wickham, 



Human Remains from Franconia. — It 

 may possibly interest such of your readers 

 as are students of that beautiful science, 

 Geology, to be informed that Dr. Haupt, 

 keeper of the museum of the Clerical Semi^ 

 nary at Bamberg, (Franconia), has lately 

 discovered in the immediate vicinity of 

 that city, a stratum with human remains, 

 lying between ten and fourteen feet beneath 

 the present surface of the soil, and overlaid 

 by a bed of pea t covered with alluvial sands. 

 The stratum in question is a black, bitu-: 

 minous earth, filled with bones of bovine 

 and cervine animals. Amidst them lie 

 sca,ttered fragments of pottoj-y and glasa ; 



