19 [9- Reviews. 135 



coloured picture of the Irish Coal Titmouse (pi. 9) would, we think, con- 

 vince any unprejudiced Irishman who accepted its accuracy that the form 

 of Pants ater frequenting his neighbourhood must be either the British 

 or the Continental variety ; for we never see in this country a bird 

 approaching the high coloration bestowed in the plate on the figure of 

 P. a. hiberniciis. The reproduction of shades of colour is, however, such 

 a difficult matter that we must not dwell too much on a solitary blemish 

 that happens rather to hit the Irishman in the eye. Another coloured 

 plate (pi. 4) is unfortunate in representing a Crossbill in the unwonted 

 act of feeding on the seeds of a Scots Fir cone that is still growdng on the 

 tree. It may be from a museum specimen, but if so the setting was 

 undoubtedly fanciful. The Hand-Book, however, devotes little of its 

 space to the subject of habits, and there is scarcely an attempt made to 

 indicate differences in this respect between the various geographical 

 races. Mr. Oldham's notes on the " field-characters " distinguishing 

 the various species are, as might be expected, excellent so far as they go ; 

 but only a few lines are allotted them under each head, and in the case 

 of a Continental form this feature is generally lacking. Of the descrip- 

 tions, giving the sequences of plumage and moults from the nestling 

 stage to maturity, Mr. Witherby fairly claims in his preface that they are 

 " more complete than any hitherto published in a book on British birds." 

 If for this reason alone the new Hand-book will be indispensable to working 

 ornithulogists, and it cannot fail of a very general welcome. 



C. B. M. 



NOTES. 



ZOOLOGY. 

 Planorbis corneus in Co. Dublin. 



In the early part of August last I noticed a number of dark-coloured 

 objects among weeds at the entrance to the Broadstone branch of the 

 Royal Canal quite close to Dublin. On fishing out a few of these I was 

 pleased to recognize Planorbis corneus, one of the largest and rarest of the 

 Irish water snails. They seemed quite at home in this locality and both 

 young and fully-grown specimens were to be seen gliding about on the 

 masses of green alga which almost filled that part of the canal in the 

 late summer and autumn. On other occasions they were noticed in 

 smaller numbers until the end of October or a little later. None were 

 seen far from the main colony but a detailed search was not made. 



Has so conspicuous a species escaped notice for years or has it been 

 established there quite recently ? The Royal Canal has been searched 

 by me from time to time until about six or seven years ago and no specimens 

 of this Planorbis were found, though I should state that collecting was 

 usually begun further out from the city than where the present colony 

 lives. 



