i88 ■ The Irish Naturalist. August, 



Great Auk in Co. Clare. 



I have the pleasure to aiinouuce the recent discovery of bones of this 

 extinct bird in the kitchen-middens of the Co. Clare coast. These con- 

 sist of a tibia from near Luhinch, and a coracoid from the coast north of 

 Doonbeg. They were found by Mr. James DuflF}-, who accompanied me. 

 In both cases the relics occurred (like the Great Auk bones in Co. 

 Waterford) on the surface between the sand-hills. The other objects 

 found there were slabs of sandstone used for hearths, broken and 

 burned pot-boilers in profusion, with multitudes of shells of limpets 

 and periwinkles, bones of horse, cow, pig. goat, or sheep, and horns of 

 Red Deer ; with these, we have found in Co. Clare some peat and bog- 

 wood. 



It seems probable that the Great Auks, whose bones have occurred 

 amid such surroundings in Antrim, Waterford, and Clare, were been 

 used for food by the ancient inhabitants ; and where they have existed 

 in such widely-separaied localities, we need not despair of finding 

 remains of this species on other parts of the shores of Ireland. 



R. J. USSHKR. 

 Cappagh, Co. Waterford. 



Iceland Gull at Moyview. 



T was pleased to see Mr. D. C. Campbell's notice of Iceland Gul 

 (^Larus leucopterus) at Londonderr}', seen on 7th of April. We also had a 

 visit from one of that species of gull here on the 25th of January, when 

 I observed a bird in that creamy-coloured plumage of the second year 

 resting on the water of one of my fields; and again, on the nth 

 February, I saw probably the same bird on the shore, with some 

 Herring Gulls, near the shipping quay, a mile from Ballina. 



Rob?:rt Warren. 

 Moyview, Ballina. 



Breeding Habits of the British Squirrel. 



In recent issues of the Irish Naturalist I have noticed some letters on 

 the above subject. Perhaps you may think it worth while to reproduce 

 the following, being part of a note, entitled " Young Squirrels," which 

 I contributed to the Natural History column of the Irish Sportsman of 

 October i8th, 1892. The Irish Sportsman is out of print, and its files are 

 probably inaccessible to naturalists. Further, the note includes all 

 information on the subject which I was able to collect at the time of 

 writing — 



"To the Zoologist for March, 1891, Mr. E. W. H. Blagg, of Cheadle, 

 Stafford.shire, contributed an interesting note on this point, in which 



