1897O Notes* s^ 



Most people are aware, I think, that there are two kind of crows in 

 the British Islands, and the Black Crow is common in England, but very 

 rare in Ireland. The Grey or Hooded Crow is common in Ireland and 

 rare in England. Many similar cases of distribution in two closely allied 

 species are known to naturalists, not only in birds but in many groups 

 of invertebrate animals. Their range suggests that perhaps a great 

 interval of time elapsed between the original migrations to the British 

 Islands of the two species. We might assume that the Grey Crow 

 arrived first from the Continent and spread all over Great Britain and 

 Ireland, and that the Black Crow has come more recently and sup- 

 planted the former in those parts nearest to the Continent. This 

 supposition would explain the fact that in the more remote parts of the 

 British Islands from the Continent, viz., in Ireland and Scotland, the 

 Grey Crow is more abundant than the Black. It matters little whether 

 we call the two crows races, varieties or species. Certain it is that the 

 two forms present no structural differences, that their eggs are often 

 undistinguishable, and that they frequently interbreed. 



Young Rooks are often mistaken for Crows in Ireland and indeed they 

 are very much alike, but Mr. R. M. Barrington pointed out to me that 

 the bases of the body feathers are in the former always grey and in the 

 latter white. We have therefore a very simple method by means of which 

 these two species can at once be distinguished by merely lifting the 

 feathers a little and examining their under parts. 



R. F. SCHARFF. 



Stock-dove at Drogrheda. 



On the evening of the 6th inst. I shot 'a Stock-dove at Blackball, 

 Drogheda. I have been looking out for them for many years, but never saw 

 one before, though I have shot many hundreds of Ring-doves. It is a 

 level and wooded locality, and about 20 miles from the place where Lord 

 Clermont first saw the Stock- dove in 1S75. 



G. H. PentIvAnd. 



Surf Scoter in Killala Bayp 



On the 19th inst. when punt-shooting near Killala, in the Moyne 

 Channel, I met a pair of Surf Scoters ; the female was secured, but the 

 male, a fine adult bird, escaped with a broken wing. The bird obtained 

 is only the fifth specimen as yet known to have been shot in Ireland, 

 The first was shot in Belfast in 1846 ; the second at Clontarf, Co. Dublin, in 

 October, 18S0 ; and a third, a young female or male, shot in Crookhaven 

 Harbour, Co. Cork, in November, 1888. While Mr. Sheridan, of Achill, 

 Co. Mayo, speaks of shooting one there with a rifle bullet in 1870. 



RoBERl^ Warren. 



[We hear that Mr. Warren has since shot the male, and that both birds 

 have been secured for the Dublin Museum.— Eds.] 



