Page:The Zoologist, 4th series, vol 3 (1899).djvu/208

182 two in Leinster, and two in Munster. This is referred to by Mr. Saunders.— (Cappagh, Co. Waterford).

Crossbill in North Wales.—Mr. Newstead (cf. ante, p. 28) will be interested to hear that two or three pairs of Crossbills (Loxia curvirostra) nested at Penmaenmawr, North Wales, in 1890 or 1891. I have lost my notes of the occurrence, but it was subsequent to 1889. I did not see them nesting myself, but my sister used to go and watch them, and I afterwards examined their nests. They were in some larch trees at a cottage in the lane which leads up to the Green Gorge, a well-known walk in Penmaenmawr. They were rather far out on the branches, and twelve or fourteen feet from the ground. My sister is a very good observer of birds, and she described them to me so minutely that there could be no doubt in the case. They were very tame, and she used to watch them from a distance of twenty or thirty feet, and could see their twisted beaks quite plainly.— (Black Hall, Drogheda).

The Eggs and Nest of the Moorhen.—I should like to add my mite of evidence to that of those who have already given theirs in favour of the view that the Moorhen (Gallinula chloropus) does not, as a rule, cover her eggs when leaving the nest. I have seen very many nests of the species under consideration, and I have never yet seen one in which the eggs had been intentionally covered over, and indeed I will go farther, and say that I have never met any collector or ornithologist who had. That the bird may occasionally resort to this means of protection is of course possible, but it is not its regular habit to do so, a fact about which the vast majority of observers seem quite agreed.— H.M.S. 'Repulse,' Channel Squadron.

Little Tern (Sterna minuta) in Ireland.—So far as I know there are only two regular breeding places of this bird on the east coast of Ireland, but in 1897 seven or eight pairs bred at the north side of the mouth of the Boyne, within eighty yards of the second hole of our golf-links. The caddies unfortunately found them out, and took, I fear, most of their eggs, for last year they did not reappear. I wonder if they went on to the Isle of Man, and formed Mr. Ralfe's colony (cf. ante, p. 32)? In the same year a Ringed Plover chose to lay her eggs near the twelfth hole of our links, and right in the course. Every ball from the twelfth tee whizzed over her head, and every player and caddy used to have a look at her four pretty eggs, but everyone spared them, and she hatched them out all right. There is a little islet in Carlingford Lough, called Green Island, where a few Arctic Terns breed. In 1886 I saw a couple of Lesser Terns (Sterna minuta) there, but could not find their eggs. In 1887 there were none to be seen.— (Black Hall, Drogheda).