For a description of these the artistic monograph of "Eastnor Castle," dated November, 1889, edited by Lady Henry Somerset, compiled by Gwenllian E. F. Morgan, must be consulted. It is sold on the premises to visitors, or copies can be obtained post free for three shillings and sixpence on application to the Secretary, Eastnor Castle, Ledbury. At the present period the public is admitted on Mondays and Fridays on payment of one shilling, the proceeds being devoted to a Charitable Institution.

The view from the Upper Terrace is charming and diversified. In the foreground is the Lake, and in the background is the range of the Southern extremity of the Malvern Range, extending from Herefordshire Beacon to Chase End, the last hill in the ancient Chase of Malvern, which originally extended down the western slopes of the range (see Transactions, 1898, p. 65). The margins of the lake are wooded to the water's edge. Amongst willows and other trees is a profusion of dogwood (Cornus sanguinea), the changed foliage of which in autumn imparts to the lake a striking border of deep crimson colour.

Upon the nearest island stood Castleditch, an ancient manor house, moated and fortified, the residence of the family of Cocks from the sixteenth century until the erection, in 1812, of Eastnor Castle.

Amongst trees in the grounds are fine specimens of Abies pinsapo, a very beautiful Picea lascio-carpa, a Pinus bracteata, and some well grown Wellingtonias.

Conservatories, Vineries, Peach-houses, &c., are in the Kitchen and Fruit Gardens. The great vine is 72 feet long. The reputation of the fruit produce under the cultivation of Mr. Coleman, the head gardener, who has been at Eastnor for more than thirty years, is well known. The following is an extract from the Report of the General Congress, in 1884, at Rouen, of the Pomological Societies of France, as given in Transactions, 1884, p. 236

Of the grapes, from Mr. Coleman, of Eastnor, it is enough to say that they were in his customary form, and took the highest prize awarded for produce of the vine-a large silver medal. They were shown in the best possible condition, without the removal of a particle of bloom."

After luncheon al fresco in the garden grounds some business of the Club was transacted, and the following paper was read :

THE CUCKOO IN 1902.

BY THOMAS HUTCHINSON.

The movements of the cuckoo having been somewhat erratic this year, a few notes on the bird may be of interest.

Mr. Howard Saunders in his "Manual on British Birds" states that even in the South of England the bird seldom arrives before April 6th, the male precedes the female by a few days, in June he "changes his tune," and becomes hoarse, while by August most of the adults have

departed, though the young remain until October. The same authority also states that the female resorts to the same locality year after year, deposits her egg on the ground, and then conveys it in her bill to the nest of some bird destined to act as foster-parent From five to eight are produced by the female in the season, and froin 12 to 13 days are required for incubation. There is a statement made in Germany that exceptionally cuckoos hatch their own eggs. When only thirty hours old the intruder begins to eject the other nestlings by the aid of a cavity in its back, which fills up after the 12th day. When two cuckoos are in the same nest the struggle for existence is sometimes severe.

White, of Selborne, gives dates as follows:-From April 7th to 26th; last heard on June 28th.

This year I have been told the bird was heard in the county on April 11th, but I did not hear it myself until the end of the month, when it was heard pretty generally until about the end of the first week in May. Then came a long spell of cold weather, and the bird was seldom heard for nearly three weeks, the same thing happening during the hot days that occurred at the end of the month of June, but about the 26th, and well on into July, it was to be heard everywhere in full voice, and what is more curious still, I have not this year heard one note out of tune, and so far as I can learn the hoarse or stuttering note has not been heard at all.

This raises two suggestions: First, that it is the continual exercise of the voice that causes the note to be produced out of tune, which begins as a rule early in June, and gradually develops into a hoarse or stuttering sound. By the middle of the month, or at any rate by the end of the third week, the bird has ceased to shout. Secondly, assuming that by continual exercise the voice, as it were, gets worn out, why did not the birds continue to shout this year until they became hoarse? Does not this suggest that they took their departure, and do not the old birds every year take their departure before the end of June? This year they were heard in the parish of Kimbolton and near Hereford as late as July 5th.

On June 30th I wrote to the "Standard" asking for information, and received replies from various parts of the country, which it may be interesting to note shortly.

Mr. E. W Phillips. of Taunton, wired and said: “Cuckoo going strong here." Mr. Pember R. Davis, of Lewes, says: "The cuckoo is in full voice, and I have not heard it shout one note out of tune." The Rev. T. F. Dixon, of Wellsborough Rectory, Kent, says: "I never remember the bird being in such full and true voice so late in the year." Mr. John E. Clegg, of Coventry, says: "Last Thursday night (June 26th) I heard a cuckoo shout, and not one but several notes were distinctly out of tune." Mr. E. Lucas, of 263, South Lambeth-road, S.W., says: "I heard the cuckoo in full voice near Lyndhurst, in the New Forest, last Sunday, June 29th." Mr. H. B. Allen says: "The cuckoo's note is still being heard in perfect tune in the parish of Staple

All

grove and neighbourhood, near Taunton." The Rev. A. H. Snowden, of Northampton, says he did not hear the cuckoo after June 20th, and thinks that it was on 17th that he heard it with its changed note. the above letters are dated July 2nd. Mr. Edward Castall, of Oakham, in a letter dated July 5th, says: "I heard it frequently yesterday. Here we consider it leaves off singing at or soon after the longest day. This year they were not seen until May Icth." Mr. G. W. Newman, of Cheltenham, says: "I heard one call a little out of tune last Sunday (June 29th). They are usually gone by July 7th, the popular idea of August being erroneous as to the old birds."

You will observe that Mr. Castall terms the note "singing," and Mr. Newman terms it a "call." In my letter to the "Standard "I used the word "shout," and Mr. Newman asks if that is "a good description of the note, which he says is a regular musical cadence of a third." I think "shout" is a better description than "call" or "singing," for the note is not a call in the same sense as that of the partridge, neither is it a song like that of the lark or thrush. When I used the word "shout" I was thinking of Wordsworth's lines:—

"Echo, echo, mountain echo,
Solitary, clear, profound,
Answering to the shouting cuckoo,
Giving to her sound for sound."

Since writing the above I have heard from Mr. John Nix, of Eastbourne, under date 31st July: "I heard the cuckoo on the 13th inst., near Harning, Norfolk; its note was full and without blemish. About five years ago I heard it in the same place four days later than the above date, but its note was faltering."

I have also heard from Rev. W. H. Purchas, Alstonfield Vicarage, as follows :---" My last record of hearing him is June 27th; on the forenoon of that day his note was heard for an hour or two, neither out of tune nor stammering "

ENTOMOLOGY.

LEPIDOPTERA.- -Mr. Hutchinson gave the information that, in a letter, dated July 18th, the Rev. W. H. Purchas wrote that when he was a boy he occasionally took Pieris crategi in the neighbourhood of Ross; that one evening he took two sleeping on grasses in a meadow near Weston-under-Penyard. These captures were previous to those already recorded in Transactions, 887, p. 104.

Mr. Purchas also reported having taken a specimen of Thecla betulæ near Llangrove Common, a new species for this county.

Mr. Hutchinson saw a specimen of Thecla w-album in a garden at Hereford, on 22nd July.