NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 
157 
A Plague of Earwigs. — In some parts of North Kent, residents have been 
much annoyed with earwigs this summer, the insects freely visiting sitting rooms 
and bedrooms. It would seem as if they entered houses in search of moisture, the 
gardens and fields having been so dry for months past. Several persons have 
been anxious to ascertain how they get in, and on investigation I find good 
evidence that they usually enter at the windows during the twilight, these of 
course being generally open at this season. I have repeatedly noticed them in 
the act of re-adjusting their wings on a wall near a window, but they are seldom 
observed in the act of flying. If any readers of Nature Notes have ever found 
an earwig using the tail lorceps as a weapon, I hope they will kindly note the fact ; 
I have as yet failed to get an unquestionable instance. 
J. R. S. Clifford. 
Early emergence of the Privet Hawk Moth.— As a proof of the 
earliness of the season, produced by the dryness and lack of moisture, I may note 
that an egg of the above hatched out on the 25th of May, which was found a few 
days before on a privet hedge, and must have been deposited at least a week 
previously, if not longer. In the usual way the moth does not emerge from the 
chrysalis till about the middle of June. I noticed that in this specimen the 
ecdyses or changes of skin W'ere four, at intervals of about eight or nine days, the 
last occurring on July 6th. The caterpillar of Sphinx ligustri is very sensitive to 
noise, and ceases to eat if it hears a solmd near ; it has also a habit of carefully 
examining a leaf before it begins to nibble. It usually attains its full size in about 
two da)s, if the weather be warm. 
J. R. .S. Clifford. 
London Birds. — It would seem as if the few jackdaw's left in London were 
follow'ing the example of the rooks and seeking new resting places. A few years 
ago more than a dozen pairs built in the gardens of Devonshire House, Piccadilly, 
but for some unknown reason they have this year entirely deserted the place. 
On the other hand there is an indication that other wild birds are ready to take up 
their residences w'ith us. Wood pigeons are becoming quite common. Last year a 
pair built in Grosvenor Square, and sat closely for some time, but I did not see 
any young birds. This year a pair have built in the gardens behind the houses 
in Brook Street, but I am afraid that a large black cat — an expert tree climber — 
can account for the absence of any young ones. I was told by the keeper that a 
pair of wild magpies commenced to build in the Zoological Gardens this spring, 
but were disturbed by the Easter Monday visitors. On March 5th I noticed a 
flock of lapwings over Hyde Park, and a pair of blue tits have just reared a 
family in the hedge at the back of Spencer Plouse in the Green Park. 
P'red. W. Ashley. 
The Kingfisher. — Mr. Warde P'owler, in his note (p. 139) on the still com- 
parative frequency of this bird, in spite of hard winters and the gun, asks for evi- 
dence of the continued existence of Welsh kingfishers. The low water this summer 
made the river Ithon, a tributary of the Wye, favourable to the kingfisher, and I saw 
several there during the early part of June. I would mention in passing that this part 
of Radnorshire is a favourite breeding place of the curlew. The kingfisher is by no 
means uncommon in Somersetshire. T. P. 
Weston-super-Mare. 
I may say that I have seen the kingfisher pretty ofteti in certain districts in 
Cardiganshire, and occasionally in Montgomeryshire in the neighbourhood of 
Carno and Pontdolgsch. 
Aberystwyth. G. R. 
A Late Cuckoo. — On July 8th I found a young cuckoo (only two or three 
days old) in a pipit’s [Anthus pratensis) nest, and three hard set eggs of the pipit 
were thrown out on the rocks beneath the nest. Is not it very unusual for a 
cuckoo to be hatched so late in the summer ? I should be very glad of information 
on this point. Harriet Peyton. 
Machynlleth, Montgomeryshire. 
Jackdaws. — Your readers may be interested in a curious incident of bird- 
life which I witnessed some years ago. A good many jackdaws used to live in 
