2o8 The Irish Naturalist. June, 1907. 



The Well-Shrimp in Co. Clare. 



Last November Dr. M'Weeney sent to the Museum for identification 

 two minute Crustaceans contained in water sent to him for examination 

 from a well in Co. Clare. 



They were examples of Niphargus kochianus, Spence Bate, which has 

 twice been recorded from wells in Ireland, but on both occasions from 

 the neighbourhood of Dublin. It has also been found in open water in 

 Ireland, viz., in Lough Mask by Mr. W. F. de V. Kane {Ann. and Mag. 

 Nat. Hist. (7), xiv., 1904), who gives an interesting account of his unex- 

 pected capture of about 130 examples of this species at a depth of from 

 130 to 150 feet, when dredging for Mysh relicta, and refers to the pos- 

 sibility of this normally subterranean species having obtained admission 

 to the lake by means of underground currents. 



A. R. Nichols. 



Dublin Museum. 



Eared Grebe in Belfast Lough. 



I had the pleasure of examining on the 28th of February a fine 

 specimen of the Bared Grebe {Podicipes nigricoUis), which was shot on 

 the 26th by R. H. Leeke, Esq., of the Rifle Brigade, now stationed at 

 Holywood, who brought it to Messrs. Sheals, of Corporation-street, 

 Belfast, for preservation, where I saw it. It proved to be a male on dis- 

 section. 



This specimen was coming into summer plumage, the ear-tufts being 

 well developed, and the sides beginning to turn a chestnut-brown. This 

 grebe has been known to breed in England (see Zoologist for 1906), and, 

 according to Ussher and Warren, " Birds of Ireland," it has only occurred 

 about twenty-one times in this country, so it may be considered a rare 

 visitor to our waters. It was accompanied by two other birds, presumably 

 of the same species. 



W. H. Workman. 



Windsor, Bel fas 



Crossbill breeding in Co. Wicklow. 



It may be of interest to record that on the 17th April I took a Crosbill's 

 (Loxia cnrvirostra) nest in Co. Wicklow with four eggs, fresh, nest in 

 spruce, about 30 feet from ground, and lined with sheep's wool and rabbit 

 fur. I have searched in vain for eight years in Wicklow woods before 

 finding this nest ; some years I have not seen a Crossbill. 



R. HAMIT/rON-HUNTEU. 



Kingstown. 



