190X. Notes. 73 



The Migration of Birds. 



My friend, Mr. Ussher, has said so many kind words abont the volume 

 on the Migration of Birds, which I published with the assistance of Mr. 

 Moffat, that I scarcely like to find fault with anything in his review. He 

 has, however, I think, over-estimated the value of classification in the 

 study of migration. The book is not intended to teach, and never will 

 be looked to as any guide whatever in classification. The standard 

 work of Yarrell, fourth edition, began with the birds of prey ; the early 

 migratory reports followed this now disused system, and the later migra- 

 tion reports were written for the sake of uniformity on the same lines. 

 To Copernicus and Galileo we are much indebted in astronomy for a 

 system which supplanted that of Ptolemy. There is a great gulf between 

 the two ; but in ornithology we have no such widely different systems 

 which naturalists can clearly recognize as right and wrong. An in- 

 teresting summary of the various methods of arrangement is given in 

 Newton's " Dictionary of Birds." During the past century almost every 

 great writer had a theory of his own, and" at present widely different 

 views are held as to the affinities of genera and species. Bach genera- 

 tion explodes the ideas of the previous one. Classification is therefore 

 in a condition of unstable equilibrium, and to say that any system is 

 final or essential in the study of migration is, with every respect to my 

 old and valued friend, going a step too far. 



Fassaroe, Bray. Richard M. BarringTon. 



[An author can hardly expect a reviewer to agree with him absolutely 

 on every point, and in this particular instance we think the author has 

 been treated by the reviewer with an appreciation that is seldom attained, 

 and which shows how thoroughly in sympathy Mr. Ussher is with the 

 work of Mr. Barrington. There is no suggestion of misrepresentation on 

 the part of the reviewer ; it is merely a difference of opinion. The 

 question appears to us to be not whether classification is of importance 

 in migration, but whether classification is of importance in a book of 

 reference ; and we have little doubt as to which way most of our readers 

 would answer it. — Eds. ] 



Irish Hare entering a Burrow. 



The fact that the Irish Hare (LeJ>us limidtis hiberuiais, Bell), occasionally 

 " goes to ground " (to use a sporting expression) is well known to those 

 who are familiar with the ways of the animal. Yet the existence of such 

 a habit in a hare seems to excite so much interest in those who are 

 acquainted only with the Brown Hare, Lepus europaus, Pallas, that I 

 think it worth while to place on record the most conspicuous instance 

 of the kind which has come to my notice. This occurred on the 15th of 

 January of the present year, during the meeting of the Kilmanock 

 Coursing Club. On this occasion a hare when hard pressed by a brace 

 of greyhounds deliberately entered a rabbit burrow in the presence of 

 the whole field, and thus saved her life. 



G. E. H. Barrett-Hamii/ton. 



Kilmanock, Arthurstown. 



