136 
The Irish Naturalist. 
May, 1906. 
Irish Biological Futilities. 
Our attention has been called to a paper by R. Drane, F.Iv.S., with the 
above title, published in 1904 in the Transactions of the Cardiff Naturalists' 
Society, vol. xxxvii. The writer's "futilities" include the finding of 
Erica ciliaris in Mayo, Oxytropis uralensis in Aran, and a breeding colony 
of Sandwich Terns (of which only two Irish breeding stations are at 
present known) on Lough Mask. While envying such successful field 
work, we fear that futile Irish biologists will ask some proof before 
admitting the above-named plants to the Irish flora, or accepting this 
new station for one of our rarest breeding birds. We are left wonder- 
ing what the " polyporous form of Allium af7ipeloprasum " may be, and what 
young ducks look like when "speaking to us in syllables which angels 
use." 
ZOOLOGY. 
Remains of Hawfinch in Co. Clare Caves. 
The mandible figured in the County Clare Report {Trans. R. I. A., 
February, 1906), and which had been referred to Hawfinch by Mr. E. T. 
Newton, has, at his request, been submitted to Professor Newton at 
Cambridge. He says that this bone has, without any doubt, been trulj' 
assigned to Coccothraustes vitlgaris, though it is perceptibly larger than one 
in the collection at Cambridge, and is bigger still than that of the 
American C. vespertiniis, with which he has also compared it. 
Professor Newton adds :— "This seems to me a very interesting occur- 
rence. Eighty years ago or thereabouts Hawfinches were accounted 
scarce visitors to England, and it was only a few years after that they 
were found to breed here. We do not know now what it is that tempts 
them, but it must be connected with new woodland growth, and it is 
instructive." 
The mandible of Hawfinch occurred at Newhall in the upper stratum 
of the cave-deposits, which yielded six bones of Jay (four at Edenvale 
and two at Newhall), while in each of those places a bone of Great 
Spotted Woodpecker was found, also in the upper deposit ; the bones of 
Crane, however, came chiefly from the lower stratum at Edenvale, 
though the femur referred to this bird occurred in the upper stratum 
at Newhall. 
The rarity of these species at the present day in Ireland, and especially 
in the County Clare, makes the finding of these remains of much 
interest, the caves that contained them having yielded some very 
unexpected mammals, as Dr. ScharfF's admirable portion of the report 
has shown- 
R. J. Usshe;r. 
Cappagh, Co. Waterford. 
