BIRD LIFE AT GREAT STAN MORE 
191 
them is by using a scoop of perforated zinc attached to a 
stout stick. This is plunged boldly into the water and thrust 
into the vegetation and mud. On lifting the scoop on the bank 
the water runs off rapidly through the holes in the zinc, leaving 
a number of wriggling animals for inspection. The scoop, if 
well made, is better than a net and saves time by allowing the 
water to drain off more rapidly and can be quickly inspected, 
whereas a net must be carefully opened out fold by fold to avoid 
missing anything. At Plumbley in Cheshire, on April 4, 1896, 
I remember taking an interesting series of newts, larvae by this 
method, the gills still persisting whilst the orange colour of the 
perfect animal was already appearing on the abdomen. 
Rana temporaria (common frog). In summer obtained easily 
enough by systematically walking along banks of streams and 
ponds, and occasionally striking the long damp grass with a stick. 
In winter taken with more difficulty by using scoop, thrust into 
the mud at the \)Ottom of ponds and streams. A curious 
instance of a frog biting a common toad, apparently in revenge 
for the loss of a worm swallowed by the toad, has been detailed 
by me in The Zoologist for i8g8. Frogs will eat almost any 
insect. In 1891 I removed the larva of a tortoiseshell butterfly, 
spiny as this insect is, from the stomach of a frog, when 
dissecting in the Owens College Biological Laboratory. I have 
found frogs to be expert climbers, as mentioned by corres- 
pondents in N.\ture Notes. 
Bufo calamita (natterjack). This handsome toad, readily 
distinguished by the bright yellow vertebral stripe on the back, 
is found in drier situations than the common toad. It runs well, 
and avoids water as a rule. My own specimens would climb out 
w’hen pushed in. May be obtained on sandhills near the coast, 
as at Lytham in Lancashire. 
Bufo vulgaris (common toad). To be obtained in almost any 
numbers in ^larch and April, and will eat almost anything. 
Graham Renshaw. 
NOTES ON 
BIRD LIFE AT THE 
GREAT STANMORE. 
GROVE, 
DRY autumn following an abnormally dry summer had 
the effect of lowering the ponds and reservoir in this 
neighbourhood to such a degree as to leave all around 
the margin a belt of mud and slime. This state of 
things attracted many of the wading birds, for in the mud they 
find all sorts of tempting morsels in the form of various species 
of mollusca which are then accessible to their long beaks. Dab- 
chicks, coots, moorhen, teal and wigeon have been very plentiful 
here during the winter, whilst an unusually large number of 
herons have fared sumptuously upon the large fresh-water 
mussels. At the Elstree reservoir basketsful of mussel shells 
