4 
THE NATURALISTS’ JOURNAL. 
the coming of a male. The eggs are laid in stems of grass, 
&c., the female preferring to deposit its eggs between the 
inner and outer covering of the star grass, but other plants 
are used for this purpose, especially if there is a convenient 
crevice for the purpose. The caterpillar appears to feed on 
the low plants of the sandhills, and in confinement may be 
reared on knapweed. 
For several years I have visited the sandhills to search for 
this insect, sometimes returning without any, once with one 
only, another time with half a dozen, and so on, the numbers 
varying season after season. This Good Friday the insect 
was fairly common, the females appearing to outnumber the 
males, so that those who wished to breed the insect would 
have very little trouble in getting a batch of eggs. The 
insects are to be sought for on the ground; a net is unnecessary, 
as the male rarely flies in the daytime—evening is the time 
when this is done. This is one of the insects which may be 
safely packed two or three in a box without injury, the insects 
being torpid in the daytime; and the scales are not rubbed 
off the wings as soon as many other moths, the reason being 
they are smaller and not quite so loose and numerous as other 
sorts. The insect is rather difficult to rear from the egg, but 
with care and attention this may be done. 
Bolton , June 16 tli, 1892. F. W. Paple. 
BIRD LIFE ON EPSOM COMMON. 
Although only fifteen miles from London, Epsom Common 
is a fairly good field for all classes of naturalists ; it is of con¬ 
siderable extent, and fairly well wooded in some parts, and 
also possesses some small tracts of marshy land and water 
which abound in many specimens, winged and otherwise, 
desirable for the cabinet of the collector. The greater part of 
the common is, however, covered with gorse and bracken, 
with occasional bushy thickets. 
To-day I started out early in the afternoon for a ramble over 
the common. The first birds I noticed were the whinchats 
and stonechats, but I could not discover any of their nests, 
although they are undoubtedly still engaged in nidification. 
Soon after I flushed a nightjar from almost under my feet, 
and it flew leisurely away, skimming just over the furze, and 
flying so slowly that my dog chased it for some distance. I 
found the egg it rose from almost instantly; it was in a little 
open spot among the furze, surrounded by a fringe of bracken, 
and lay in a slight depression upon the debris of furze needles 
