94 The Irish Naturalist. April, 



source — it occurs on p, 315 of Dubordieu's Statistical Survey of the County 

 of Down, published iu 1802 — the passage appears to have escaped notice 

 in the course of the discussion. It has not, at least, been referred to or 

 quoted in these pages so far as I can discover. 



" The introduction of frogs into this country, from which they have 

 spread iu such numbers through the rest of the kingdom, though in 

 itself a subject of no importance, must form a curious and interesting 

 object in the e3'es of a naturalist. That they are not indigenous, and 

 that they first made their appearance near Moira, in the western parts 

 of this county, can be proved beyond contradiction, but by whom they 

 were first imported is uot so certain. I was assured by an old gentleman 

 of the greatest veracity, who died some years ago above the age of 

 eighty, that the first frogs he ever saw w^ere in a well near the above- 

 mentioned town, from whence he brought some of them to Wariugs- 

 town, where, until that time, they had never been seen ; the quickness 

 with which they multiplied, and the rapidity with which they spread 

 are surprising, especially the latter, in a creature not very well adapted, 

 at least in appearance, either to move with celerity or wdth per- 

 severance ; and there are many stories still current of the terror and 

 surprise excited by the view of this disgusting though innocent animal, 

 which seems formed to be the prey of every voracious creature either 

 by land or water within whose reach it comes." 



It may be that the deliverance of the Kesh Corran cave deposits on 

 this question is so weighty, as to justify the assertion, causa finita est. 

 On the other hand, it may perhaps be still permissible to keep an open 

 mind in the matter, and should that be so, the passage just quoted may 

 be taken as affording some evidence of the rapidity with which that 

 "disgusting though innocent animal," the Common Frog, effected its 

 very thorough settlement in Ireland. 



NaTHANIEIv COI.GAN. 



Sandycove, Co. Dublin. 



Birds of the Isle of Man. 



Having undertaken a work on this subject, which will shortly be 

 published, I would gratefully receive, and duly acknowledge, any notes 

 contributed by readers of this Journal. Information is particularly 

 desired with regard to the following species : — Whinchat, Garden 

 Warbler, Lesser Whitethroat, Wood Warbler, Dipper, Twite, Merlin, 

 Rock Dove, the species of Grey Geese and sea-frequenting Ducks. 



P. S. RAI.FE. 



Castletown, Isle of Man. 



Snow Goose in Longford and Mayo. 



In the Zoologist iox December Messrs. Williams and Son, of Dublin, 

 record two specimens of the Snow Goose {Chen hyperboretis) shot in Co. Long- 

 ford on October 28th, while in the January issue of the same magazine 

 Mr. R. Warren records this bird both in Co. Longford and^in Co. Mayo. 



