Notes. S3 



[From a description furnished by Mr. W. Connell, this bird was, no 

 doubt, a Greater-spotted Woodpecker {Dendrocopus major), which oc- 

 casionally appears as a rare visitor to Ireland in late autumn, but has 

 never been found breeding in this country. The Green and the Lesser- 

 spotted Woodpeckers have also been found, but only three or four times 

 in Ireland, and they are far more scarce with us than the Greater-spotted 

 Woodpecker. — A. G. More.] 



GoIvDe;n Eagi,e (Aquila chrysaetus) in Co. Gai^way. — On the 24th of 

 April I received a very fine specimen of this noble bird obtained in the 

 vicinity of Leenane, Co. Galway. It was shot while devouring a lamb, 

 and was exceedingly fat, measuring seven feet from tip-to-tip of wings, 

 and three feet from beak to tail. Mr. Ussher informs me they have bred 

 during the last few years in the immediate vicinity of where this bird 

 was obtained. — Edward Williams, Dublin. 



The Sandgrouse (Syrrhaptes paradoxus) at PorTmarnock. — In 

 a conversation with Mr. Rielly, the gamekeeper in charge of the rabbit- 

 warren at Portmarnock, near Dublin, he informed me that in the spring 

 of 1888 a covey of Sandgrouse consisting of fifteen birds took up their 

 residence, and remained for about six weeks on the Portmarnock sand- 

 hills, where they were strictly protected by orders of the agent. Captain 

 Thompson, in the hope that they might remain and breed. In this, 

 however, he was disapjjointed, as the birds all left by the end of June; 

 but while on the sandhills, they used to gather in the centre of a large 

 pasture field to spend the night.— Edward Williams, Dublin. 



FoRK-TAii,ED PETREiy (Oceanodroina leucorrhoa, Vieillot) in Co. 

 Antrim. — Mr. Sheals, the Belfast taxidermist, has drawn my attention to 

 a Fork-tailed Petrel recently sent to him. It was picked up near Ballin- 

 derry, at the south-eastern shore of Lough Neagh, on the 27th April 

 last, and had evidently been dead a few days. It was a mature male in 

 good plumage, and its occurrence in Co. Antrim at this date is interest- 

 ing. It would be strange if a single bird would wander so far inland, 

 and I would be glad to know if other occurrences have been noted. — 

 Robert Patterson, Belfast. 



Fui^MAR (Pulmarus g-lacialis) in Co. DonKGai,. — On May 19th I 

 picked up on the sands between Ballyshannon and Bundoran, a specimen 

 of this bird in a recent state. I believe this is an unusual time of year for 

 it to occur. — H. Lyster Jameson. 



Ivory Gui.1, (Larus eburneus) in Dubinin. — In the Zoologist for June, 

 Messrs. E. G. Waddilove and S. V. Cooke write that on the 19th April 

 last they saw an Ivory Gull feeding with common and black-headed 

 gulls on the garbage of the Liffej^, just above Grattan Bridge, in Dublin. 



MAMMALS. 



The Marten (IVEustela martes) in Co. Wexford. — A specimen of 

 this rare animal was taken on May ist at Coolbawn, in the Co. Wexford, 

 by my friend Mr. Arthur Ruttledge. This capture is most interesting, 

 and sets at rest for the present all doubts as to the survival of the Marten 

 in that part of Ireland. It is now nine or ten 3-ears since I last heard of 



marten being taken in the county, and that one (which was caught in 

 a trap at Ballyhyland) was released without having been authenticated. 

 There is, however, pretty strong circumstantial evidence that it was an 

 actual marten. The most fortunate feature in Mr. Ruttledge's capture is 

 that his specimen is a young one, and there is, therefore, every prospect 

 of its long continuing an object of interest to visitors to the Zoological 

 Gardens, — the home to which Mr. Ruttledge has consigned it, — where 

 naturalists will be glad to learn that it is now to be seen in cage facing 

 one of the entrances to the monkej^-house, apparently none the worse 

 for its passing acquaintance with the jaws of a rabbit-trap.— C. B. Moffat, 

 Ballyhyland, Co. Wexford. 



