iQi8. Notes. 15 



Woodcock marked in Ireland and recovered in Shetland. 



In the Irish Naturalist, August, 1917, I recorded that a Woodcock having 

 a ring on its foot endorsed " T. H. Sligo 4," had met with its death in 

 Shetland. As the result of that note, Mr. J. P. Burkitt advised me to 

 communicate with Mr. T. C. Bracken, Temple House, Ballymote, who 

 has informed me that the bird was one of four ringed at Temple House 

 on the 1 2th of May, 191-1, and that it was about a fortnight old when 

 marked. It is impossible to give any satisfactory explanation for the 

 presence of an adult Irish-bred Woodcock in Shetland on the 7th of July. 



Royal Scottish Museum, Edinburgh. Wm. Eagle Clarke, 



Sandwich Terns breeding in Co. Qalway. 



Twenty terns of this species were counted in one group on Mutton 

 Island, Co. Galway, on June 12th, 191 7, and on June 17th there were 

 live nests containing eggs. I am indebted to Mr. Glanville for this 

 interesting information. This is, I believe, the first occurrence of the 

 Sandwich Tern nesting in Galway which is the third county on the west 

 coast of Ireland in which it is known to breed. 



Bloomfield, Hollymount, Co. Mayo. Robert F. Ruttledge. 



Owls and Sparrow Hawks clapping their Wings. 



I have read with much interest Mr. J. P. Burkitt's remarks on the Long- 

 eared Owl (vol. xxvi., pp. 161-163), and with reference to his comments 

 upon the habit these birds have of clapping their wings, I may say that 

 I have noted this upon several occasions during the past thirty or forty 

 years. It is, I have no doubt, a normal phase of the nuptial flight, and 

 the sound produced by the striking together of the wings above the back 

 can be distinctly heard at a distance of at least twenty or thirty yards. 

 I am almost certain that both sexes indulge in the habit, just as in the 

 case of Pigeons for example, but at any rate I can answer for it that 

 upon one occasion it was a female Long-eared Owl that clapped. 



But the habit is not confined to one species only. I have repeatedl}' 

 heard and seen the Tawny Owl clap its wings in precisely the same 

 manner. Upon one occasion, too, I saw a female Sparrow-Hawk do it, 

 when indulging in the rather owl-like flight which is the habit of her 

 sex at the pairing season, her mate meanwhile soaring overhead ; while 

 the Nightjar is well known to clap its wings during its love-flights. 



When, as boys, we used to keep pigeons, it was customary to speak 

 of the slow-flapping flight of a bird, during which the wings are often 

 loudly clapped, as " owling." The origin of the expression, or of its 

 application, I do not know, but it descended to us from previous pigeon- 

 keepers, and was no new invention. Possibly it may be in common 

 use through the country. In that case may it not have originated, in 

 times long past, from a knowledge possessed by its coiners of the fact 

 that Owls clapped their wings in similar leisurely fashion ? 



Alston, Cumberland, George Bolam. 



