1896.] Notes. 



T17 



As regards Formica rufa, Iv., I do not think that it is indigenous at 

 Churchill, for as far as I can find out it was imported there some fifty 

 years ago, possibly more. It has however taken most kindly to the place 

 and multiplied to an extraordinary extent. I was standing one day 

 looking at them when I noticed a curious crackling sound. After several 

 vain endeavours to discover the source of the noise I found it to be 

 caused by the myriads of ants running over the dry pine needles. This 

 will give some idea of their immense numbers. I should very much like 

 to know if these ants are to be found elsewhere in Ireland and whether 

 they are indigenous or imported. 



W. F. Johnson, Poyntzpass. 



BIRDS. 

 IVIIg-ration of Curlews. —The wails of the host of curlews which 

 passed over Dublin on the night of the nth inst. (March) must have 

 greeted the ears of a large number of the residents. The night was 

 warm and wet, and the curlews cried in chorus with but little inter- 

 mission from about 9 p.m. until midnight, and probably for some hours 

 longer. For several years I have taken notice of these nocturnal out- 

 bursts of curlew music over our city, and I find that March is the 

 month in which they most generally occur. For instance a very striking 

 *' rush " took place in March, 1892, on the nights of the 23rd, 24th, and 

 25th, as reported by me at the time in the natural history column of the 

 Irish Sportsman. On that occasion the wild cries of the birds were not the 

 only evidence given of their passage, for at least one curlew was picked 

 up dead in Sackville-street, having flown with violence against the tele- 

 graph wires ; and simultaneously with these occurrences notes showing 

 a general migration-movement of curlews were forwarded from Limerick, 

 Liverpool, and other places. Again, in March, 1893, the nights of the 

 i8th and 19th were signalised by similar demonstrations, noticed in 

 Dublin by my brother and myself and doubtless by many others. On all 

 the nights referred to the sky was thickly overclouded, — indeed, I have 

 several times remarked that the breaking up of the clouds has put an end 

 to the clamour, probably because on bright nights the birds fly too high 

 to be easily heard ; for in the stillness of the country — and, for that 

 matter, of the Phoenix Park — I have heard them in clear starlight, calling 

 to one another from apparently a very great elevation. 



C. B. Moffat Dublin. 



Nesting of Black GuillemotSi — Mr Palmer in the current 

 number of the Irish Naturalist, asks whether any one else can throw 

 further light on Mr. Witherby's observation of Black Guillemots nesting 

 "under large boulders scattered about." 



When I was in the Lofoden Islands some summers ago, where the 

 Black Guillemot goes by^the name of Testhe and is particularly common, 



