194 The Irish Natuyalist. Nov. Dec, 



Larva of the Death's Head Moth in Co. Down. 



Mr. Wakefield Richardson informed me that he met with the larva 

 of Acherontia a/ropos at Moyallen in a potato !i- Id. 



W. F. Johnson. 



Poyntzpass. 



Recent Records of Irish Birds. 



To Novitates Zoologicae, May, 191 7, Prof. Patten contributes a long 

 article on the specimen of the Western Black-eared Wheatear from Tuskar 

 Rock which he already recorded in these pages {I.N., 1916, p. 100), 

 determining the subspecies as the Western Black-eared Wheatear 

 {Oenanthe hispanica hispanica. The following communications appear in 

 British Birds for the present year : — Bittern in Co. Tyrone (near Coalisland, 

 2nd Dec, 1916), by W. C. Wright (January No.) ; Little Bustard in Co. 

 Clare (near Ennis, 20th Dec, 1916), by C. J. Carroll (Feb. No.) ; Black- 

 winged Stilt in Ireland (Tory Island, April, 191 6), by W. J. Williams 

 (March No.) ; Mortality among Barn Owls in Ireland, by the same (June 

 No.). The Severe Winter of 1916-17, and its effect on Birds in the South 

 of Ireland, by C. J. Carroll (July No.). 



Arctic Skua and Black Tern on Loug^h Mask, Co. Mayo, 



On September 12th, at 4.30 p.m., I observed an Arctic Skua near 

 Inishmaine, Lough Mask. The day was fine with a fairly high west 

 wind. The bird flew very low and swiftly to the south and passed about 

 eighty yards from our boat. On the following day at 6.50 p.m. I noticed 

 a Black Tern north of Saint's Island ; it was flying leisurely southwards, 

 just above the surface of the water, now and then darting down for food. 

 The bird was quite close to the boat and I was able to identify it easily. 



Robert F. Ruttledge. 

 Bloomfield, Hollymount, Co. Mayo. 



Snowy Owl in Co. Antrim. 



My friend, Mr. Herbert Malcomson, had the interesting experience of 

 examining a fine specimen of the Snowy Owl [Nydea nyctea) at Messrs. 

 Robbins, taxidermists, which was shot near Glenavy about 12th November, 

 1917. According to the latest edition of the British Ornithologists' 

 Union List of British Birds this species is a winter visitor between 

 September and April to the Shetland and Orkney Islands, and not 

 ynusual in the Inner and Outer Hebrides and the mainland of Scotland- 



