NOTES
377
I believe Swallows have been hand-reared before in this country,
but it is, I think, worth recording that it can be done successfully
provided one is willing to devote countless hours caring for it day
and night.
Jack Friedlein.
Butterflies and Moths at North Fambridge, 1965-1966
Resident butterflies and moths have decreased steadily; where
there used to be swarms it is now hard to find a single specimen.
On the farm only the White Letter Hairstreak holds its own,
as it does not wander and we have a secure colony fully protected
by our boundaries.
Hawk moths are becoming rare, and migrant hawk moths are
a thing of the past. Perhaps we see the single Humming-bird
Hawk in a season when they used to pass through by the dozen.
Red Admirals and Painted Ladies still appear in small num-
bers in summer, but Clouded Yellows seem to have disappeared.
On the whole it is a most depressing outlook for all wild life in
this county.
Jack Friedlein.
Grasshopper Warbler
It is interesting to note that that little known and rare bird,
the Grasshopper Warbler, finds suitable conditions for survival in
central Essex. During 1965 persistent song of this species was
heard from a grass and clover field between Broomfield and Little
Waltham, and again in a swampy, reedy area near Little Baddow
church. In the latter area two singing males were believed to be
present in June 1965. Neither bird was seen.
R. W. Brewster.
Hunting Behaviour of the Water Shrew
On June 26, 1963, I watched a Water Shrew (Neomys fodiens)
for some half an hour hunting at the edge of an ornamental lake
at Broomfield, Chelmsford; at one time I saw two together. The
surface was calm and some ripples appeared once or twice at
intervals of a minute or so at a certain spot by the bank, where
a low parapet of worn grey stones was topped by grass and weeds.
When I focussed my field glasses and watched, I saw the
animal swim round the corner of the granite slabs out of sight.
A second or two later, the grasses on the bank nearby began to
shake, where it was moving about at the roots.
The shrew carried on its activities unconcerned while I watched
from behind a tree several yards to one side of the bank. It
came into view from under the bank, swimming on the surface
and then, when it reached a patch of leaves of the floating pond
weed, Potamogeton natans, it gave a little flip and dived beneath
in a twinkling, as a Little Grebe does. Several seconds later, it
reappeared among the surface leaves a yard or two farther out