Field Noies. 



1 1 1 



BIRDS. 



Ornithalog:ical Records for Cheshire and North Wales. 



— Permit me to record the following : — Fork-tailed Petrel 

 (Oceanodroma leiicorrhoa) , Ellesmereport, near Chester, Dec. 

 i6th, 1907. Red-throated Diver, Corwen, Jan. 7th, 1908. 

 Siskin ^ , Hoole, near Chester, Dec. 15th, 1906. Common 

 Bittern, Stoke, near Chester, Jan. 28th, 1908. — Alfred New- 

 stead, Grosvenor Museum, Chester, January nth, 1908. 



Increase of the Marsh Tit in the West Riding. — Almost 

 the feature in the small-bird hfe of this district during the past 

 winter has been the large numbers of Marsh Tits. I have never 

 known them so common before. The increase was first noticed 

 in early September. At the time I considered it to 

 be merely a chance concourse of wandering flocks ; but they 

 have continued plentiful during the whole of the winter. In 

 conversation with several friends who reside in the oiithing 

 districts, I find they have also noted the same thing. — Harry 

 B. Booth, Shipley. 



MOLLUSCA. 



Note on the Feeding Habits of Arion aten — The 



following refers to a specimen of Arion ater var. hninnea which I 

 kept in confinement. The length of the slug when extended 

 "crawling was 5 and 7-i6ths inches from the top of the upper 

 tentacle to the end of its tail. Its weight was 284 grains, 

 or a little more than half-an-ounce. When feeding, it took 

 an average of from 20 to 25 bites per minute, and each bite 

 was imm. deep, and 5mm. wide. In feeding, it seemed to nip 

 off small pieces, and m.ade a shght snapping sound. 



On July 8th, the food (lettuce) which I gave it weighed 

 I dram, 11 grains. Twenty-four hours later, on the 9th, the food 

 remaining weighed 25 grains. As evaporation was practically 

 nil, it had eaten 41 grains in the twenty- four hours. During 

 the next twenty-four hours it ate 33 grains, during the next 

 ■similar period 38 grains, and during the next 44J grains. On 

 the last occasion, the w^eather was slightly warmer, which may 

 account for it feeding better. I noticed that it seemed to eat 

 most between the hours of 7 p.m. and 7-30 a.m. 



From the above it will be seen that in four days it consumed 

 156^ grains : consequently in eight days it would eat 28 grains 

 more than its own weight. — W. Harrison Hutton, Leeds. 



1908 March i. 



