10 



The Naturalist. 



Ilkley, in 1876. I left Leeds on the 1st of May, on a tour through the 

 north-western fells, and on returning I was sorry to hear that some 

 malicious person had broken into the room where the birds are kept, and 

 carried off the contents of the nest, and thus put an end to our hopes and 

 expectations. I doubt whether the rogue came off free without torn 

 clothes and scratched hands. I examined two of the eggs ; they were not 

 the typical shape, but were similar in size and shape to the eggs of the 

 common fowl. The one which was given to me contained a pale yolk. A 

 larger and more convenient place is now being built for these large, noble 

 birds, and we hope that next spring they will meet with better success. — 

 Walter E-aine, Leeds, July 10th. 



The Nightingale at Scakborough. — I am informed by Mr. William 

 Hobinson, of Scarborough, who is quite familiar with the song of this 

 bird, that he heard a nightingale singing near Oliver's Mount, on the 

 nights of the 10th and 11th of May last. Until the publication of the 

 ^' Handbook of Yorkshire Yertebrata," five miles north of York " was 

 stated, in books, to be the farthest north for this species. My investiga- 

 tions for the Handbook enabled me to prove that the bird occurred much 

 further north, and to state my opinion that it was gradually extending its 

 range northwards up the vale of York, and along the coast, and I found 

 Baldersby Park, near Thirsk, and Flamborough Head were, so far as I 

 could ascertain, its most northern outposts in Great Britain. Now Scar- 

 borough must be considered as such for the coast. — Wm. Eagle Clarke. 



Extraordinary Mortality amongst Diptera. — As I was walking 

 down Park-bottom road, from EUand towards Brighouse, yesterday 

 evening, the road, under the trees, was thickly strewed with flies like the 

 sample I enclose. They were nearly all dead, or about 1 in 100 living. 

 What is the name of the fly, and the cause of the mortality 1 there were 

 thousands. — C. C. Hanson, Greetland, near Halifax, July 13th, 1882. — 

 [We submitted the flies to Mr. R. H. Meade, of Bradford, who replied 

 as follows : — The flies sent were specimens of Bihio PomoncE Fab. 

 Many of the species of this family {Bihionidoe) occasionally swarm in 

 immense numbers, the cause of which is rather obscure. In the Entomo- 

 logisfs Monthly Magazine for November, 1880, Mr. Douglas has published 

 mi account of an immense swarm of flies which invaded a ship whilst at 

 sea ; these (some of which he forwarded to me), belonged to the same 

 family though to a different genus {Dilophus vulgaris). The species of 

 Bibio are said to feed, in the larva state, on the roots of grass, and seem 

 to hatch out sometimes in great numbers at once. — Yours very truly, R, 

 H. Meade, Bradford, July 5th, 1882."— Eds. Nat] 



British Association Meeting at Southampton, and Local Scien- 

 tific Societies. — Mr. W. G. Fordham has sent to us a number of papers 

 relating to the Conference of Delegates of Local Scientiflc Societies, &c,, 

 to be held as above, and we desire to call the attention of all our local 

 societies and others generally, to the very interesting features referred to 



