FIELD NOTES. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 



Mamestra furva and Cucullia verbasci at Huddersfieid. — 



Recentl}- Mr. James Lee brous^ht me for confirmation two speci- 

 mens of Miniicsira furva^ which he had taken last summer on 

 the Deii^-hton side of Huddersfieid, where he said the species 

 appeared to be fairh' common. It is ver}' many years since the 

 species was previously taken in the district, but probably 

 the spot where Mr. Lee took his examples had never been 

 worked in the meantime, and it may have been there during- all 

 the long- interval. Mr. W. E. L. Wattam, too, told me that a 

 colon\^ of larvae of Cucullia vcrlnisci was observed feeding near 

 Newsome, Huddersfieid, last year, thus confirming Mr. B. 

 Morley's capture of an imago at Skelmanthorpe last summer, 

 which was the first record for the district. — Geo. T. Porritt, 

 Huddersfieid, March 7th, 1906. 



BIRDS. 



The Brambling in the North of Engfland. — This species 

 has been exceptionally numerous in most of the southern 

 counties during the past winter, but I have not been able to 

 hear of any increase in the North of Lngland. in this im- 

 mediate neighbourhood it only occurs in small numbers, (pro- 

 bably owing- to the absence of large beech woods), and this 

 winter no increase has been noted. It would be interesting to 

 know whether any reader of 'The Naturalist' in Yorkshire, or 

 in the North of England, has noticed more than the usual 

 numbers. Particulars of observation would be of interest and 

 mig-ht tend to throw some light on the migratory movements 

 of this northern breeding finch. In this district the Siskin has 

 been much more common than usual (see page 100). If this 

 has been generally so in the north, and the Brambling has 

 certainly been much more numerous in the south, it would be 

 interesting to endeavour to discover the cause, or cau.ses, as 

 the past winter cannot be described as haxing been a hard 

 winter in these islands. Hakrv B. Booth, Spring- Royd, 

 Shipley, March ujth, 1906. 



Naturalist, 



