i8g 4 .] 



THE BRITISH NATURALIST. 



79 



neighbourhood might be a Morello cherry supply for all England, if 

 people only studied what will grow and what will not, and it is a fruit 

 which always commands a high price. One of the large fruit growers of 

 Covent Garden told me that he should only be too glad to take 20 tons, 

 or more, if he could get them. Pardon this preface, and let me get 

 to the hawfinch. Two years ago, a few unknown birds were observed 

 perching on my garden hurdles at Birch Dale, within a mile and a half 

 of Warrington, and one day I found upon my lawn the head and tail of 

 one which had probably fallen a victim to a cat — a large bullfinch kind of 

 head, and a black, white, and greyish brown tail. Shortly afterwards 

 another was caught in a cherry net, and was kept for some weeks 

 in a cage, where it fed greedily upon hempseed. A third specimen 

 was killed, when entangled in the net, by a dog, and a fourth specimen 

 was released and turned loose. One or two young birds again paid us 

 a visit last year, and one was killed at Thelwall. So far as is known, 

 no old birds were seen, nor was a strange note heard, but according to 

 Yarrell's " British Birds," vol. i., p. 483 ^edition of 1843), the Haw- 

 finch is a bird of shy and silent habits. When the leaves fell, a large 

 nest composed of long dry stalks of rye-grass twisted round and round, 

 similar in shape to the nest given in Yarrell's illustration (p. 489), was 

 found in the fork of a horse-chestnut above the hurdles where the young 

 ones were first seen. There was no lining to the nest when found, nor 

 was there any lichen, but it would have been impossible to find any 

 lichen in so populous a neighbourhood. The rye-grass was cut at the 

 end, and had evidently been taken from a cut crop of clover and rye- 

 grass. Yarrell mentions a nest found in a similar position in a horse- 

 chestnut, so there would seem to be little doubt that the nest belonged 

 to the bird. It certainly was not a sparrow's nest, of which there are too 

 many about Birch Dale. Whether the Morello cherry or some very 

 long rows of peas were the attraction I cannot tell, but the visit of such 

 birds to this neighbourhood is well worthy of a passing record. — Robert 

 Davies, Birch Dale, Warrington. 



NOTES. 



Dentistry amongst the Aztecs. — While in Boston recently, I 

 took the opportunity of visiting Harvard to look through the Museum. 

 Rambling about, I was fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of 

 Mr. Goodale, the Professor of Botany at the University, who on 

 learning that I was " a Britisher," very kindly undertook to act as 

 guide. Amongst the many interesting exhibits, one is, I think, unique. 



