Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 1 (1897).djvu/264

236 I secured on April 16th was forwarded to Norwich Museum. Two, which I did not see, were brought in contemporaneously with the last, and were cut up for sale. Thus in a few weeks, and of a species not before locally identified, five specimens have occurred off the coast, and it may undoubtedly lay claim to insertion in the county list.— (Yarmouth, Norfolk).

Birds feeding on the Larvæ of the Magpie-moth.—I was interested in reading the note in connection with this species, Abraxas grossulariata (ante, p. 169). I see that Mr. Butler, in the work on British Birds and Eggs, with illustrations by Mr. Frohawk, now in course of publication, states "that no bird will touch the larvæ of the Gooseberry Moth," by which, I take it, he means Abraxas grossulariata. I can assure him that the Cuckoo will do so readily. Some years ago, in a large orchard of ours, the gooseberry and currant trees were infested with this pest, and at the same time numbers of Cuckoos appeared. We did not connect the two at first, but my father shot one bird, and its stomach was found to be crammed with these obnoxious larvæ.— (Heathwold, Goathland).

Early Snails.—On Christmas Day, 1896, at about 10 a.m., I saw a Snail, Helix nemoralis, adult, extended at full length, and crawling along the road. A good deal of rain had fallen during the previous night. On March 2nd of the present year I again met with this species abroad. This also was a full-grown specimen, and was found crawling on a wet piece of wood at the edge of a ditch. Limnæa peregra is often to be seen here crawling about in numbers as early as February.— (Blaxhall, Suffolk).