NATURAL HISTORY QUERIES 
155 
nest has been taken, the matter cannot be further investigated. It is, however, 
possible that three and not four birds combined together in the construction of 
the nest ; that a male bird took to bigamy, and induced two lady-loves to set up 
an establishment side by side under his protection. 
South-acre, Swaffham. Edmund Thos. Daubeny. 
639. Golden Oriole. — I see in your interesting Magazine for May the 
golden oriole mentioned in Natural History Notes. 1 had the satisfaction of 
seeing one on May 30 last at Bicton, Herefordshire, where I was staying at the 
time. I am also told a pair of them nested in a field at Newlands, Malvern, 
in 1906. 
Bewcroft, The Mount, Shrewsbury, Violet E. Lingen Burton. 
640. Swallow-tail Butterfly. — Last summer I spent three weeks of 
my holiday living in a small boat up a quiet backwater in the Norfolk Broad 
country, and found six caterpillars of the swallow-tailed butterfly. They were all 
within a radius of some 30 or 40 square yards, feeding upon the seeds of a large 
umbelliferous plant, and although these plants were plentiful all along the water- 
side, an exhaustive search for more caterpillars was fruitless. I did not know 
what they were at the time, but, thinking they must be something uncommon, 
sent them by post to a small nephew in Devonshire. He brought two of the 
chrysalides back here to school with him this term, and the butterflies emerged 
early this month — both excellent specimens. The other four are at his home in 
Surrey, still in the chrysalis stage, I believe. 
As I had always believed that the English swallow-tail was extinct except 
in one locality in Lincolnshire, I thought this note of its existence in Norfolk 
might be interesting. I do not want to describe the spot where I found them ; 
and if I had known at the time what the caterpillars were I would certainly not 
have sent away all that I found. I have hopes that there may have been others 
already in the chrysalis stage, but I fear there were not, for I kept these under 
observation for a fortnight or more, finding that they never left the plants on which 
they were feeding. 
Iwyford School, Winchester, Hugh B. Kitchin. 
[The scarce swallow-tail {Papilio poJalirius) no longer exists as a British 
species ; but the species here recorded (P. machaon), the larva of which feeds on 
the milk-parsley {Peucedanuni palustre), fennel, wild carrot, and other Umbelli- 
ferae, is not uncommon in the Fenland. Before modern draining its distribution 
was more extensive ; but the Peucedanuni, its chief food-plant, occurs to-day from 
Yorkshire to Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. Our correspondent is quite right not 
to particularize as to the locality. — Ed. N-NP]. 
641. Caulescent Primroses. — Have any of your readers noticed the 
tendency on the part of this year’s primroses to develop umbels ? In the woods 
here, between Walton and Headley, we have gathered an unusual number of 
umbelliferous primroses, in places where there are no cowslips. They are larger 
than the hybrids of the Primula veris and P. vulgaris, and have more the appear- 
ance of P. elatior of North-West Essex. Can this form be due to the unusual 
lateness of the season, and, if so, may it not be that P. elatior was at some 
distant date evolved from P. vulgaris during the occurrence of one or more very 
cold springs ? 
The sparrows, I may add, have this year treated my garden primroses as 
unkindly as the crocuses, beheading them, says my gardener, for the sake of 
a small fly with which they have been infested. 
Walton-on-the-Hill, near Epsom, May 15, 1908. M. J. T. 
[The true Primula elatior differs from a primrose in several other points 
besides caulescence, e.g., leaf-form and perfume. It is as distinct a species as 
either primrose or cowslip, and, if sprung from some common ancestor of these 
species, has long become sharply differentiated. — Ed. N.N.'\ 
642. Notes on Plants in a Disused Limestone Quarry in 
North Wales. — It is a dry sunny spot, high on the hillside, sheltered by cliffs 
from the north and east. The feathery seeds of the traveller’s joy {Clematis 
Vitalba) wafted into the chinks and crannies of stone-heaps made it evidently 
