74 



The Naturalist. 



dersfield on Sept. 24th. Can any other correspondent corroborate this 

 observation ? It is difficult to distinguish immigrant missel- thrushes 

 from fieldfares when at a distance, especially if the respective notes of 

 the birds are not heard. My earliest date for the appearance of the field- 

 fare for the last twelve years is Oct. 12th. — Geo. Robeets. 



Snow-B DOTING. — Last winter I bought a snow-bunting of a bird-catcher 

 for the purpose of making mj^self acquainted with its song and notes, and 

 also for the purpose of noticing any changes of plumage. The bird had 

 been caught some time during the previous winter near Leeds, and 

 having been confined in a small cage, its tail was worn to a stump. Its 

 plumage was a uniform rufous-brown and black above, and- a dirty Avhite 

 beneath. I gave it a pretty large cage, and fed it with canary seed. 

 About the middle of March last it began to sing. Its song is weak for the 

 size of the bird ; its notes, however, are mellow and full, and one peculiar 

 note, generally uttered at night, is very loud and piercing. It sang only 

 for a short time in spring, and always ceased singing if it saw anyone 

 watching. For the first eight or nine months it kept continually jumping 

 and dancing within the wires at the front of the cage, and at night never 

 perched, but sat in a corner. About September it seemed to acquire a 

 new dress without throwing off any of the old. It has now a full 

 plumage, tail included, has lost its habit of dancing, and has begun to 

 perch both in the daytime, and at night when roosting. The new plumage 

 is similar to the old, except in being brighter, in having a red-brown 

 crescent on the breast, and a few white feathers on the crown and round 

 the eyes, and more conspicuous white feathers in the tail. Mudie says 

 that the snow-bunting in a wild state never perches. I presume that the 

 reason it did not perch at first was that it had been confined in a 

 small cage without perches, and that it was without tail, consequently 

 unable, or less able, to balance itself on a perch. The feet of this species 

 are not grasping feet, but more fit for standing or running on the leaves 

 of aquatic plants, like the feet of the skylark, which bird, judging from 

 the prolongation of the toes, has doubtless originally been a marsh-bird. 

 The claw on the heel of my caged bunting was (before being shortened) 

 nearly three-quarters of an inch in length. The bill is yellow, tipped 

 with black. — Geo. Roberts. 



ENTOMOLOGICAL NOTES.— Through the kindness of Lord Wal- 

 singham, I have recently added to my collection a pair of Steganoptycha 

 rufimitrana. His lordship bred a series, in June last, from larvae found « 

 in Norfolk, on fir {Ahies ceiohalonica) ; previously the species was only 

 known, as British, by two Cambridge specimens, and one bred by Lord 

 Walsingham last year. Other additions to my cabinet include Platypteryx 

 sicula, from Bristol ; a pair of Dianthcecia Barrettii, taken by the late 

 Mr. R. W. Sinclair, at Howth ; Gymnancyda canella, bred from pupse 

 sent me last year by the Rev. E. N. Bloomfield, of Guestling, near 

 Hastings, to whom I am also indebted for a batch of larvee, now feeding 



