30 The Irish Naturalist. March, 



NOTES. 



ZOOLOGY. 

 Sleeping: Habits of the Tree-Creeper. 



The account given by Mr. Nevin Foster in the January number (pp. 1-2) 

 of the sleeping habits of this species as observed by him at Hillsborough 

 is of extraordinary interest ; but I do not find that in parts of the country 

 where Sequoia gigantea happens not to be an abundant tree the Tree- 

 Creeper considers it necessary to excavate hollows in which to pass the 

 night. In Co, Wexford it sometimes resorted to natural crevices. At 

 Ballyhyland I frequently observed a bird of this species retiring at dusk 

 into a crevice between th( bark and the trunk of an old and decaying 

 Ash, which grew not more than a quarter of a mile away from the nearest 

 Wellingtonia, and so would appear to have been preferred by the Creeper. 

 A still more common roosting.place is probably against the trunk of any 

 rough-barked tree, and this is the kind of situation in which the bird is 

 described as passing the night by Mr. T. A. Coward, in his admirable little 

 two- volume work " The Birds of the British Isles and their Eggs " 

 (1919-20). 



C. B. Moffat. 

 Dublin. 



Sandwich Terns at Rosslare, Co. Wexford. 



On September 21, 1922, I met with a party of Sandwich Terns resting 

 on the sands at Rosslare, Co. Wexford. By cutting through the sandhills 

 I succeeded in getting within about twenty yards of them and watched 

 them for quite half an hour. There were 21 birds in the party on the 

 sands and three or four other terns were fishing some little way out to 

 sea, but I cannot say definitely that these were Sandwich Terns, though 

 from their size I judged them so, and one, which came ashore and joined 

 the others, certainly belonged to this species. Fortunately^ there were 

 few people about that afternoon, so the birds were not disturbed much, 

 though indeed they did not seem to mind unless the passers-by came 

 close, when they circled out over the sea for a few minutes and then 

 returned each time to almost the same spot on the sands. In the end 

 they all rose and flew leisurely along the sands towards Ballygeary (Ross- 

 lare Harbour). This was the only occasion on which I met with the 

 species there, though I had been constantly on the sands all the summer 

 from June to the end of September. Either Common or Arctic Terns 

 were frequent up to the second week in September, but none were about 

 the day I met with the Sandwich Terns. 



W, M. Abbott. 

 Fermoy 



