NOTES LEPIDOPTERA, MAMMALIA, BIRDS. 



6 7 



Melanippe unangulata at Bradford and Barden. — Last July 



my late friend, Mr. John Firth, intimated to me with his usual enthusiasm that 

 he had just seen on the setting board what he thought to be a specimen of 

 M. unangulata, but was not quite sure, and requested me to see it. It had been 

 taken about the end of June, resting on a wall at Girlington, by Mr. W. Hodgson, 

 a local collector of lepidoptera. I have seen the specimen, and am very pleased 

 indeed to be able to confirm Mr. Firth's suspicions, for it is a genuine M. unan- 

 gulata, and an interesting addition to our local fauna, and, indeed, a very recent 

 addition to the county list. On looking over Mr. Butterfield's collection, more 

 recently, I was glad to detect another, which he had placed doubtfully under the 

 name M. rivata, and which he had taken at Barden two or three years ago. — 

 J. W. Carter, Bradford, February 1st, 1886. 



MAMMALIA. 



Weasel's Method of Carrying its Young.— In reference to Mr. 



Oldfield's note at page 202 of the Naturalist for 1885, how can the Squirrel carry its 

 young but in its mouth ? I have seen the Weasel carrying its young in its mouth on 

 different occasions. The young are helpless things ; where the old one drops them 

 there they remain in a helpless condition even when they appear to be almost as large 

 as the mother. I have taken up the young Weasel and carried it a short distance 

 and put it down, and stood aside, when the old one would return to the place 

 where the young one was put and run off with it. I then frightened the old one ; 

 she dropped it again. I put it in a fresh place, stood aside ; the mother returned, 

 going almost straight to its young one as if it was the spot where it had been left. — 

 Jas. Ingleby, Eavestone, near Ripon. 



Additional Records of Captures of the Badger (Meles taxus) 

 in Yorkshire.— 



One captured near Doncaster, June 1865. Weighed 20 lbs. Doncaster Gazette, 

 June 29th, 1865. 



One seen near Masham, December 5th, 1883. Mr. Carter in Rural Notes for 1883. 

 One captured at Wortley, near Barnsley, April 22nd, 1884. W. E. Brady in 



Nat., September 1884, p. 34. 

 One captured at Ingleby, North Riding, February 3rd, 1885. Mr. Lofthouse 



in Rural Notes for 1885. 

 One captured at Brimham Rocks, about February 1885. W. Storey in Nat., 



April 1885, p. 202. 



One captured at North Stainley in the winter of 1883-4. R. A. Summerfield in 

 Nat., May 1885, p. 228. George Roberts, Lofthouse, Wakefield. 



ORNITHOLOGY. 



Flocks of Skylarks on the Durham Coast.— Feb. 6th, immense 

 flocks of Larks {Alauda arvensis) made their appearance between Ryhope and 

 Seaham. The fields were absolutely alive with them. On the 8th a thaw set in, 

 and they immediately left. No other kind of birds were to be seen amongst them. 

 — James T. T. Reed, Ryhope, near Sunderland. 



Leicestershire Bird-notes. — The Red-backed Shrike {Lanius collurio) 

 bred at Loughborough last year. A clutch of five eggs, now in my collection, was 

 taken on 26th May. 



The Hoopoe ( Upupa epops) also occurred in the same neighbourhood. A pair 

 were seen by my friend, Mr. Wieldt, at the end of April. Both these birds are 

 very rare in that part. — F. B. Whitlock, Nottingham, February 6th, 1886. 



Corn Bunting— Diversity of Eggs.— On the 26th of June, 1884, 

 I found a nest of the Corn Bunting {Emberiza miliaria), which contained 

 three eggs all different in size and colour. The largest egg is 1 inch in length, 

 and I inch in breadth, and is coloured and streaked in the usual way. The smallest 

 is f inch in length, and slightly over half an inch in breadth, and is blotched and 

 streaked with light brown, not black like the normal egg. The other is 

 intermediate in size, but approaches the smaller one in ground colour and 

 markings. — Geo. Roberts. 



March 1886. 



