1890.] THE YOUNG NATURALIST. 



7i 



marking upon it, the tail possesses its ordinary jet black tip. This 

 is undoubtedly the Ermine of Northern Europe, which, although I 

 have lived in Suffolk for the last thirteen years, I have never come 

 across in this form before. Eden A. Tharp, Denston Park, New- 

 market, Suffolk. 



Hawfinch Breeding near Warrington. — I am indebted to Mr. 

 Robert Davies of Birchdale Appleton, Cheshire, for the following 

 interesting facts : — 



Mr. Davies reports that on the 20th of August, 1889, he found on 

 his lawn, the wings and tail of a bird which was unknown to him, he 

 took them to the Warrington museum and there identified them as 

 belonging to the Hawfinch. A day or so after this, his gardener told 

 him that he had just seen a strange bird sitting on a hurdle in the 

 garden, and from his description Mr. Davies recognised that his man 

 had seen a hawfinch. A few days later his gardener found caught in 

 the net protecting the morello cherry trees, a bird which turned out to 

 be a hawfinch, and a bird of the year. This bird when last heard of 

 was alive and (though its leg was broken when caught) doing well on 

 hemp and other seeds, Since the leaves have fallen, Mr. Davies has 

 found in his garden the hawfinches' nest, situated in the fork of an 

 elm-tree branch about 12 feet from the ground. 



The above facts are interesting as Birchdale is only about two 

 miles from the centre of our somewhat smoky town, and so far as I 

 know, this bird has never nested in its wild state in this district before. 

 Lin. Greening, Warrington. 



The Sun Fish at Wisbech. — A specimen of this fish is reported 

 to have been captured in Wisbech Deeps, last autumn. Its dimen- 

 sions are given as seven feet from fin to fin, and length five feet. I 

 have not seen the fish but it is probably the Opah (Lampris luna), 

 which rare fish has not been taken in the Wash since 1839, when one 

 was caught at Hunstanton. Ovthagoriscus mold, which is also popularly 

 known as the Sun-fish was taken at Lynn in November, 1850, and 

 again in October, 1883. — Albert Waters, Cambridge. 



Dasycampa rubiginea. — One day in September, 1876, I was out 

 pupa digging, and had what I thought but poor success. I had only 

 found some 20 in all, 13 of which were dug at the roots of a very old 

 and half-dead oak. These I expected would to be Tceniocampa stabilis, 



