1922. Notes 35 



Having heard that an old man living in the " West Quarter " had a 

 " strange bird " which no one could identify and which had never before 

 been S3en on the island by any of the inhabitants, I went to investigate, 

 and found the mysterious creature to be a Little Grebe {Podiceps minor) ! 

 The unfortunate bird was hanging up in a little basket cage, and had 

 apparently been kept thus for a considerable time. However, it was very 

 difficult to persuade the owner to talk, and when he did I could scarcely 

 understand a word he said, and so could not obtain any accurate informa- 

 tion. 



Owing to lack of time I was unable to make a thorough search of the 

 island, thus, no doubt, overlooking many other species which I feel sure 

 are inhabitants. 



H. B. COTT. 

 Victoria Barracks, Athlonc. 



Hairy-armed Bat in Co. Down. 



On 29th January a bat was captured about two miles from here and 

 brought to me. It proved to be a specimen of the Hairy-armed or 

 Leislcr's Bat Vespertilio leisleri Kulil. This species has twice previously 

 been recorded from the neighbourhood of Hillsborough, September, 1903, 

 Irish Naturalist, vol. xii., 320, and June, 1905, ibid., xiv., 20, Probably 

 this bat is not so rare as has been supposed, but its capture in lively 

 condition on this occasion is interesting. 



Nevin H. Foster. 

 Hillsborough, Co. Down. 



GEOLOGY. 

 The Eskers of Ireland. 



Mr. J. de \V, Hindi's article in the Irish Naturalist for December, 

 192 1 (vol. XXX., p. 137), is most interesting. The region between 

 ^luHingar and Tullamore and Tyrrellspass and ]\Ioate contains very many 

 striking examples. x\s an ordinary layman I have studied these Eskers 

 for 15 years. Their summits are 400 feet above sea-level in places. 

 They extend mainly in lines between north-west and south-east, which 

 disproves the tunnel theory, as rivers from the great melting glacier 

 should run at right angles to these lines — the glacier probably hundreds 

 of feet in thickness, coming down from Scandinavia. They contain all 

 kinds of material between the finest sand, and pebbles and stones many 

 tons in weight. I have never seen a shell-fragment. I have seen New 

 Red Sandstone pebbles in the Barrow valley sandpits ; this river has its 

 origin in or near the region above-mentioned. The Brosna river cuts 

 through a high Esker at one place. The central region being a flat plain, 

 extensive lakes could not be hemmed in ; they certainly could reach the 

 flat shores of the Shannon if not the Boyne. Beyond doubt, the Eskers 

 are the terminal moraines of the great melting glacier. In places they 



