34 
THE NATURALISTS’ JOURNAL. 
excepting the Royston crow.* The raven is pretty plentiful, 
and last year I knew of four nests within a radius of three 
miles ; all of these, with the exception of one, reared their 
young, as they could not be got at. The chough is common 
here, I have seen as many as forty or fifty in a flock. Strange 
to say we have only two kinds of gulls breeding here, viz., 
the herring gull and lesser black-backed gull, though we have 
plenty of other kinds which come to visit us but not to stay. 
Razorbills and guillemots are numerous and breed commonly. 
Peel , Isle of Man. J. Hannah. 
“ Skinning and Preserving Birds.”— Copies of this useful 
little hand-book may be obtained from the office of this 
magazine, price 3|d., post free. 
Colias edusa in Herts.— During the last month, August, 
all the clover and lucerne fields in this locality have produced 
Colias edusa in great abundance ; they have not, so far as I can 
hear, been noticed here before. I have also netted two speci¬ 
mens, male and female, of C. hyale on a patch of waste land 
adjoining a clover-field. 
Sawbvidgeworth. W. Tarling. 
The Lesser Tortoiseshell Butterfly.— I took a beauti¬ 
ful fresh specimen of this insect ( Vanessa uvticce) in the Ticket 
Printing Department of the Great Western Railway, Pad¬ 
dington, London, W. My attention was drawn to the pretty 
creature by a fellow workman, who- exclaimed that a large 
“ moth” was endeavouring to escape through a window-pane, 
it having, perhaps, gained admission through the open window 
above. A short time ago I took a Meadow Brown in a 
railway carriage below our department, which had been put 
up there for repairs, and was perhaps the conveyance of 
janiva from a country resort. Perhaps this was also the case 
with uvticce. 
September 3 rd, 1892. J. F. Cordon. 
The Nightjar near London. —Can any reader of the 
Naturalists’ Journal say whether the nightjar is common 
within twenty miles of London during the breeding season, 
as I have heard many persons say the contrary. Also 
whether the nightingale or the blackcap arrives first in this 
country each spring. E. J. F. 
Butterflies at Wimbledon.— So far this has been a very 
good season for butterflies ; among others taken on Wimbledon 
Common have been White Admiral , Peacock (which is unusually 
rare here), Brimstone , Orange-tip , Clouded Yellow , several Fvitil- 
laries, Skippers and Blues , including the rather rare Holly Blue. 
H. T. B. 
* Corvus cornix , hooded crow. 
