1923. Notes, 31 



Recent Records of Irish Birds, 



In " British Birds " for January, 1923, L. J. Turtle records the visit 

 in April last of a Spoonbill to Achill Island ; C. V. Stoney reports the 

 finding of a clutch of seven eggs in a Ro.ok's nest in Co. Donegal. 



Among Irish bird records of the past two years probably the most 

 important is Mr. C. J. Carroll's detailed account (Brit. Birds, 1921, pp, 

 209-10) of the evidence collected by himself and Mr. Williams in proof 

 of the breeding in at least two seasons of the Black-necked Grebe in the 

 west of Ireland. In the same volume Mr. Carroll gives " Notes for the 

 seasons 191 8- 19-20 on the Irish colonies of Sandwich and Roseate Terns 

 discovered in 1917" (vol. xiv., pp. 253-6), and also (p. 215) draws attention 

 to an " Unacceptable Record of the Long-tailed Duck breeding in 

 Ireland." Mr. Witherby, in some " Notes on British Records of the 

 Spotted Eagle ' \pp. 180-2) indicates the need for careful examination 

 of the Irish -killed specimen preserved in Trinity College Museum. 

 Lt.-Col. H. A. F. Magrath (vol. xv. p. 154) describes an east-to-west 

 migration observed by him across the Irish Sea during a passage to 

 Holyhead on November 7th, 1921. The question of the " Former 

 Breeding of the Osprey in Ireland," raised by the Rev. F. L. Blathwayt 

 (1922, p. 192), is discussed by H, Kirke Swann (p. 220) and G. R, 

 Humphreys (p. 243). Two occurrences of the American Bittern in 

 October, 192 1, are the subject of a note by Mr. Wilham.s (p. 212) ; Mr. 

 E. G. Hope- Johnstone (p. 272) reports havmg seen a pair of Black-necked 

 Grebes at Malahide in January and February, 1922 ; and an account 

 of the " Failure of the Malahide Tern Colony " in June last is given by 

 Lt.-Col. Magrath (vol. xvi., pp. 168-170. 



BOTANY. 



Colour-Variation in Cowslip and Primrose. 



Mr. :\Iiller Christy, who is making detailed studies of some of the 

 British species of Primula, writes me relative to the red-flowered forms 

 of the Cowslip and Primrose. He says that the distribution of these 

 forms is quite peculiar : they are found in the eastern and western parts 

 of the plant's range, but ^re apparently absent from the whole central 

 portion. Red Primroses, for instance, occur in abundance only in western 

 Britain, France, and Spain on the one hand, and in Greece, Turkey, the 

 Caucasus, &c., on th.e other. He csks for information about the range 

 of red Primroses and Cowslips in Ireland, concerning which all our Floras 

 are silent, since colour-variation has not usually been considered worthy 



