no The Irish Naturalist. [April, 1900. 



The bird footprints surrouudiug most of these dead birds were those 

 of Gulls and Herons. These species have no objection to eating their 

 dead comrades. 



The date on which these obsei"vations was made immediately followed 

 the very severe snowy weather of the first fortnight of February, 1900. 



It was interesting to note that no Guillemots or Razorbills were 

 washed ashore dead. This is due to the fact that the weather at the 

 time, though extremel}^ cold, was not particularly windy. These birds 

 stand cold weather well, but rough seas destroy many of them by dashing 

 them against the rocks. 



Chari^es J. Patten. 



Trinity College, Dublin. 



MAMMALS. 



The Hedgehog and its Food. 



I beg to thank Mr. John H. O'Connell, for his observations (p. 50 of 

 this volume) on Hedgehogs. 



Mr. C. B. Moffat's contribution is very welcome. We have found that 



Hedgehogs eat Helix iiemoralis and H. aspera with other species of Molluscs, 



sometimes eating the whole of the shells and at other times rejecting 



part. Mr. Moffat accuses the Rat of eating Helix nemoralis. I^et us 



prove if this is well founded — the Field Mouse might also come within 



the scope of our investigations. 



Hugh L. Orr. 

 Belfast. 



The Irish Rat (IVIus hibernicus). 



A specimen of this rat has been lately killed here, which was very 

 different in colour from any rat I have ever seen. The fur was of a 

 browny black colour, with occasional white hairs through it, shading off 

 to quite pale brown on the lips and feet — and it had a large triangular 

 white patch on the breast. The specimen was an old male, and had, 

 unfortunately, lost half its tail when caught. 



I sent it to Dr. Scharfif, Science and Art Museum, Dublin, who says he 

 has no doubt that it is a true Irish Rat, and not a brown one. It is still 

 in his possession. 



In the year 1890 I had a correspondence with Mr. G. E. Barrett- 

 Hamilton on the subjectof BlackRats, and at that time beseemed to think 

 that they were probably commoner here than in an}' other part of 

 Ireland, but I never saw a parti-coloured specimen before. They are 

 now much less common here than they used to be. 



Denis R, Pack-Bereseord. 

 Bagenalstown. 



