191 7- Notes. 19 



in Dublin who told me that the swans there very rarely rear their young 

 successfully. He attributed this to cold and wet seasons, but I doubt 

 this, because at Beaulieu Pond, w^hich is very like mine, but larger, 

 the swans rarely fail to rear their broods. Moreover, when I was a boy, 

 they bred here very successfully. He also told me the cygnets lived 

 on small flies and insects which they caught on the water. If so, I don't 

 wonder they died of starvation. Surely the parents feed them ? 



G. H. Pentland. 

 Black Hall, Drogheda. 



'O' 



Recent Notices of Irish Birds. 



Alfred Bell brings together the records of Pleistocene and later bird 

 remains from the British Isles, including cave, sand-dune, and crannog 

 records. — [ZooL, 1915, p. 401.) 



C. J. Patten records {Ibid., 1916, p. 41) an Icterine Warbler on migra- 

 tion from Tuskar Rock (with plate). 



J. M. M'William notes {ZooL, 1916, p. 194) a Bartram's Sandpiper 

 from Bunduff, Co. Leitrim, and contributes a paper {Ibid., 19 16, p. 348), 

 " Notes on some Irish Birds," dealing mostly with Co. Monaghan. 



R. F. Ruttledge writes {Ibid., 1916, p. 431) on birds of South Mayo, 

 largely Lough Carra. 



N. H. Foster records {Brit. Birds, ix., p. 119) the Tree-sparrow breeding 

 on a cliff in north Antrim. 



W. J. Williams announces {Ibid., ix., p. 125) the taking of a young 

 Black-necked Grebe, too immature to fly, from a western lake. 



A. R. Nichols states {Ibid., ix., p. 253) that the Little Shearwater obtained 

 in Ireland in 1853 proves on examination to be the Madeiran Little 

 Shearwater. 



C. L Carroll writes on the extermination of the Golden Eagle in Ireland 

 {Ibid., ix., p. 251), Common Buzzard in Wicklow (ix., p. 252), cream- 

 coloured Whimbrel on Lough Mask (ix., p. 255), increase of Tufted Ducks 

 in Tipperary (ix., p. 275), Common Guillemots breeding in Waterford 

 (ix., p. 276), Siskin colony in Tipperary (ix., p. 293), Green Sandpipers 

 in Tipperary (ix., p. 302), Quails in Tipperary and Waterford (ix., p. 302). 



Rev. C. W. Benson records February Chiffchaffs from Dublin and 

 Wicklow {Ibid., ix., p. 319). and has a note on Quails in Dublin (ix.. p. 320). 



J. Cunningham notes {Ibid., x., p. 116) some Crossbills near Belfast. 



Speed of flight of Leisler's Bat. 



My son told rae this summer that he had seen some large bats hawking 

 about the little lake in my grounds and that they flew very fast, faster, 

 he thought, than a Swift w^hich was with them. Our common bat here 

 is the little Pipistrelle, and any larger bat is very seldom to be seen, •; 

 so I went down the next evening to verify his statements and found it 

 was quite accurate. From two to five large bats haunted the lake and the 

 adiacent woods for most of the fine weather. They appeared about ten 



