1909. iVotes. 27 



Ringed Plover 700 Miles from Land. 



It may be interesting to note that a Ringed Plover {.^gialitis hiaticitla 

 Liun.) settled on board R.M.S. " Virginian '" at 1.30 p.m., on loth June 

 last, Avhen we were 708 miles off the Irish coast. It kept with us flying 

 about and resting at times till 10 p.m.. when it was caught and given to 

 me. It was an adult bird in summer plumage. I placed it in a cage, 

 and it fed freely on bread and milk. There is every probability that 

 this bird was on its way to Greenland, where it occurs annually along 

 with its American representative A semipahnala. The latter may have 

 possibly visited this country. It is distinguished from our bird by 

 having a web between the inner and middle toes. 



J. Trumbui^i., 



Malahide. 



Mice devouring Snails. 



We are in the habit of putting bread crumbs and seeds on the window 

 sills for the wild birds, and any number of mice come up through the ivy 

 to eat the crumbs. If the weather is damp we get crowds of snails on the 

 window sill. One day my brother said he saw a mouse carry off a snail 

 'in its mouth. I hardly believed it at the time, but since then I have 

 noticed broken snail shells and half eaten snails quite close up to where 

 the mice come up through the ivy. 



Another curious fact I have noticed is that the snails will actually eat 

 the bread placed on the window. 



I shall be interested to hear whether these facts have been noticed by 



others. 



H. K. COGHIIJ,. 

 Athboy, Co. Meath. . 



[We believe that the preying of mice on snails is familiar to many field 

 naturalists.— Eds.] 



GEOLOGY 



Booming of Lough Neagh. 



Although the fishermen of Lough Neagli for an indefinite period have 

 been acquainted with the boomings proceeding from this lake, it is only 

 within the last twenty-five years, so far as I am aware, that they have 

 been specially noted, and some attention paid to them. Before the 

 time stated, the inhabitants of the neighbourhood were not aware that 

 such sounds occurred. If heard and thought of, they were regarded as 

 of no concern to them Many natural phenomena are mysterious, the 

 ignorance as to their cause adding to the mystery, but these boomings of 

 Lough Neagli seem marvellous as well as mysterious. I have heard 

 them— dull, heavy, explosive sounds — so far as I can remember, in all 

 kinds of weather, fine and rainy in summer, and cold, fine, and frosty in 

 winter. I have heard them in spring and autumn also. Sometimes 



