212 
NATURAL HISTORY QUERIES. 
98 . Eagles. — About a week ago I was with a party of friends, climbing a 
rocky heath-covered hill, near St. David’s, South Wales, and we had just reached 
the top when a large brown bird rose from the ground almost at our feet and 
soared away across the valley, and I at once recognised it as an eagle of some 
kind, but it seemed to me small for a golden eagle. It had a dilapidated appear- 
ance, almost like a bird which had been in captivity. I was much interested in 
seeing it as I did not know that there were any eagles left in Wales, and I should 
like to know what kind it could be. It was not an osprey, or fishing eagle, with 
whose appearance I am familiar. 
October n, 1906. S. M. C. 
99 . Light-Coloured Sparrow. — This morning, as I was walking down 
Palace Gardens, I saw a bird which I believed to be a sparrow, but it was quite 
light-coloured — very much the same colour as a wood-pigeon. It was feeding 
with a number of ordinary sparrows, and seemed quite at home with them. 
Have any of your readers noticed it ; and can anyone account for this peculiarity ? 
42, Clanricarde Gardens , W. E. H. Burlton. 
October 7, 1906. 
100. Sphinx convolvuli. — What is the life history of this hawk-moth ? 
It seems to be but partially known. I strongly suspect it is, as in America, 
double brooded. It appears at the end of August, and also occasionally “ in 
May from pupa that have hibernated.” Do the eggs of those that appear in the 
autumn hatch at once, and do the caterpillars hibernate, or does the egg? The 
caterpillar is found in June and lives on the bindweed and wild balsam. 
October , 1906. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
101. Unusual Casual Plant. — One July day I was riding over a chalky 
field, bearing no particular crop and apparently given up to a scanty herbage. 
Suddenly I came upon something that astonished me — a clump of yellow and 
brown flowers, about the size of an ox-eye daisy, and evidently belonging to the 
compositae. From a very early age I have taken a keen interest in botany, and 
I think I may say that I have a fair knowledge of, at all events, the flora of 
Hampshire, but I was positive that I had never before met with the like, at any 
rate in a wild state. I brought my horse to a stand, and for several minutes was 
lost in surprise and delight. Here was “ a find ” indeed ! On continuing my 
ride, I afterwards came upon another fifteen or twenty clumps of the same plant, 
distributed at intervals over this, perhaps thirty acre, field. I pondered the 
subject for some time, but could get no light upon it, or find mention of such a 
plant in my handbook of botany. I have since, however, discovered it to be 
(with scarcely a shadow of doubt), identical with Rudbeckia Newmani of the 
garden. How, I ask, are we to account for the presence of these plants in such 
a situation ? Even had there been but one specimen the problem would have 
been a difficult one, for the field was too remote from any human habitation to 
allow of its being an “escape,” but when we consider this comparatively wide 
distribution, the question becomes a still more puzzling one. If any reader is 
sufficiently interested in the subject to give an opinion, I should be extremely 
glad. 
•Ropley, Octobers,, 1906. MarieS. Hagen. 
ASTRONOMICAL NOTES FOR NOVEMBER, 1906. 
Jupiter rises at 8Jp.ni. on November 1, and four minutes earlier each night. 
Near moon on November 6. 
Saturn will be visible during the evenings. Sets at midnight on November 15. 
Near moon on November 23. 
Finlay's comet will be nearly stationary in Cancer, but will appear very faint 
in small telescopes during November. 
Shooting stars should be looked for on mornings of November 15 and 16, and 
evenings of November 17 to 21. W. F. D. 
