The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-10 00:00:00

HAY MARKETS.

.SMITHFIELD.—Meadow hay, £4 5s to £5 78 6d ; clover,
£5 5s to £G 7s Gd; and straw, LI Gs to 10s per load.
Trade firm,

CUMBERLAND—Meadow hay, £4 5s to £5 78 Od; clover,
25 5s to .C 6 108 Od; and straw, £1 6s to £1 lOs per load,
A. active demand.

WHITECIIAIAIL,—Meadow hay, £4 5s to L 5 7s 6d ; clover,
£5 5s to £6 10s Od ; and straw, £1 Gs to £1 lOs per load.
Trade steady.

Railway Traffic Returns for the Week.

Miles Opened. Receipts.
Railways. ,--------,r-- -^--
1861. 1863. 1861. 1803.
£ L
Belfast and N, Counties l3O 136 1,036 2.0'4
Belfast and County Down 49 49 655 599
Blyth and Tyne . 28 28 2,143 1,653
Bristol and Exeter l2ll 1211 5,655 5,514
Caledonian
Cambrian
Cockermouth& Workington Bl 81 303 320
Cork and Bandon 2O 20 331 4,5
Cork, Blackrock, &Passage 6l 61 115 131
Cork and youghal .. . 321 321 339 104
Cornwall 654 651 1,464 1.203
Deeside l7 17 372 315
Dublin & Belfast Junction 63 63 1 311 1,406
Dublin and Drogheda 75 75 1,485 1,536
Dublin and Meath
Dub. &Wicklow and IVextd 9ll 011 3,003 2,786
Furness, &c 5O s', 3,217 2,80:1
Glasgow & South-Western
Gt. Eastern,N rtlf.,&E. Union
Great Northern 287 353 34, e 74 3 .3,1
Great North of Scotland 5B 58 1,768 1,53:
Li t. Northn. & Westn. (Irel.) 7ll 711 461 486
rit.Southn. & Westn.(lrind.) 3871 3731 7,419 7,974
Great Western 12221 1169 61,000 57;992
Hull and llornsea l3 125 -
Inverness & Aberdeen June ll7l 1061 1,373 1,29)
Inverness & Perth Jun,:tion 1191 1191 1,485 1,135
Irish North-Western 145 145 1,902 1.72 J
Kent Coast 27 27 510 220

Lancashire & Yorkshire 403 401 31,103 35,250
Limerick and Ennis... 241 21J 143 197
Limerick and Foynes 2O/ 261 87 130
Llanelly
. ... .. 161 461
04 464 617

Llynvi 'Valley
London &IN orth-Western
London and Blackwall 5l bl 1,717 I,f 65
London & South-Western
Loud. Brighton, &S. Coast 267 2614 17,573 16,158
London, Chatham, & Dover 72} 224 4,736 4,218
Do. Metropolitan Extension 11 104 1,075 875
Lon., Tilbury, & Southend
Ilan., Sheffield, & Lincolnsh
Ranch. S.Jun.&Altrincham 94 94 1,325 1,203
Maryport and Carlisle 2B 28 1,a25 1.414
Metropolitan
Midland (incl. N.-Western) 6511 641 49,207 43,375
Midland Gt.Westn. of Irind 262 2594 4,633 6,150
Monkland

nonmouthsh. Rail. & Canal.. 44 44 2,929 2,490
North British, Edin., Perth
and Dundee
_6151 19,935 19.273

N-Eastern and Stock. & Danl. 1095 1095 5,.788 55,918
North London 9 9 3,097 3,037
North Staffordshire 254 251 8,774 8.433
lihyinney l9} 19f 1,017 1010
Scottish Central
Scottish North-Eastern l3B 138 4,680 io 75
Somerset and Dorset O6 65 718 191
South Devon - . 791 75f 3.619 3,24)
South-Eastern 3OB 305 18,256 17,457
Tall Yale 57 57 5,914 6087
. _

Ulster

Vale of Clwyd - 152 i 27
Vale of Neath 431 431 2,806 2.3,0
Waterford and Kilkenny 3l 31 247 267
Waterford and Limerick 77 77 1,119 1,115
West Cornwall 271 274 701 6.3
W.llartlepool Harbr.& Rail 521 521 4,575 1.211
Irhaven,Cleator,& Eg,rmnt lO 10 655 651
Whitehaven J unction l3 13 1,119 967
Whitehaven & Furness Jun 35 35 900 83/
FOREIGN AND COLONIAL.
Austrian B2B 828 40,101 31,732
Bahia and San Francisco
Belgi an Eastern Junction 204 261 375 325
Bombay, Baroda, & ten. India 1851 1851 1,911 2,167
Detroit and Milwaukie lB9 189 6,796 5,371
Dutch Rhenish
Eastern of France 1176 1428 66,218 62, 86
Eastern Bengal .. 110 110 1,508 2,131
East Indian - -
Grand Trunk of Canada 1335 1335 24,623 24,307
Great Central of Belgium 22) 220 5,975 -
Great Indian Peninsula 5-3 5381 10,211 7,112
Great Luxembourg 134 131 4,511 4,057
Great Southern of India
Great Western of Canada 345 3.5 11,517 11,942
Madras
Madrid, Saragossa &Alicant (8) 650 16,224 19 294
Northern of Canada ...........01 91 1,049 1,385
Northern of France 607 697 58,131 57,583
Norwegian Trunk
Ottoman
Paris, Lyons, & Mediterrn 1967 1781 135,302 142,637
Paris and Orleans 1616 1614 71,380 70,432
Pernambuco 774 774 617 55)
Seind.
1)o. I'unjab, &c 32 3' 2•z3 z 53

South Austrian
Southern of France .... b 23 770 26,386 28,954
Victoria
Welland
West Flanders 75 75 1,043 985

West & Westn of France.. 1011 931 4.).,035" 40,610

SPARROWS BREEDING IN WINTER.—The other
day, the sexton of the parish church, Wick, while
cleaning out the Sinclair aisle, discovered a male and female
sparrow in the act of feeding a family of young ones, that
had only recently emerged from their shells. It is seldom
that an instance of sparrow breeding at this season comes
under the notice of naturalists. Certainly the fact cannot
be adduced as a proof of the mildness of the season, for
although we have not yet had a rnow shower,the season has
been the stormiest on record for many years.—.Yorthern
Ensign.

WOODCOCKS IN SURREY.—An unusually large
number of woodcocks have been flushed during
this week in the wood banks on the Surrey hills. They
are rare in this county ; they invariably migrate from the
west in the autumn and pay a flying visit to the marshy
and bog soils in the coverts of the south, but have dcferred
their transit this year till the present moon, and in the light
nights have located very numerously, and the epicures of
game and sportsmen are on the qui vice, and bagging them
with vivid competition, .

A RAT CATCIIING few days ago, while
a number of boys were amusing themselves at the
river-aide at 'MeV, their attention was directed to the move-
ments of a large rat, which every now and then came
stealthily out edits hiding-place,and cautiously advanced to
the side of this river, retreating when the boys throw atoms
at it, and retutaing as soon as a suspension of juvenile hot-
tallies admitted. The boys resolved to give the rat a chance
of a " lay," during which it ran out of its hole, suddenly
plunged into the river, and returned in an instant with a
small live fliuuder in its mouth, with which it, ran into its
domicile, taking care not..to return to its fishing quarters so
lung as the urchins remained near them.—.No) I rn Ensign.
EXTRAORDINARY DELUSION.--Samuel Baker, an
inmate of the London Lunatic Hospital, committed
suicide the (flier day by strangling himself in the water.
closet. One delusion to which he was subject was that
every meal he took cost him Ll,OOO, and that he should soon
be ruined. In consequence of this it was difficult to get
him to eat. lie was not a suicidal patient, but the man-
ner of his death showed great determination, He tied one
end of a handkerchief round his neck and the other end he
fastened to the knob of the door, and then by sinking down
and tugging at the handkerchief he managed to effect his
purpose, He w 44 60 years of age, and was from W elt"'
le-Maren,—kturnfo2d Mercer;',