NOTES. 215 



with rabbit-fur. Tlie rabbit-fur was no doubt derived 

 accidentally from the lining of the nest, but the eggs were 

 so thoroughly and evenly daubed with clay that it is difficult 

 to imagine that the coating was not applied intentionally by 

 the parent bird. The weather immediately preceding the 

 day on which I found the eggs had been fine ; the nest itself 

 was clean ; the eggs, so far as could be seen through the 

 clay covering, were of a normal type and had been incubated 

 probably for less than a week. On the day that these eggs 

 were found, I examined three or four other nests in the same 

 tree, but in none of these were the eggs in any way peculiar. 



Considered as a method of rendering the eggs inconspicuous, 

 daubing them with clay appears to be superior to the alter- 

 native method sometimes adopted by the Jackdaw (that of 

 covering them with fragments of nesting-material) since at 

 the time of greatest danger the bird might be forced to leave 

 the nest before she had sufficiently covered up the eggs. 

 On the other hand, an almost impervious covering of clay 

 might have an adverse effect on the development of the egg. 

 If the habit of egg-daubing be of advantage to Jackdaws 

 as a race, I cannot see that it would necessarily show, as 

 Dr. Wiglesworth suggests (p. 177), " a remarkable degree of 

 intelligence on the part of the bird." Rather it appears 

 probable that the habit was developed by the usual process 

 of natural selection. 



The fact that clay-daubed eggs have been recorded from 

 widely separated parts of England appears to point to the 

 conclusion that egg-daubing is not a new habit that is being 

 acquired, but an old habit that is being lost. Further, it is 

 possible that the precaution of concealing its eggs with nesting- 

 material is also being abandoned as unnecessary, for this 

 practice is by no means universal amongst Jackdaws, as it is 

 amongst Blue Tits, Grebes and many other birds. 



Edward Earle. 



SHORE-LARK IN IRELAND. 



The increasing frequency of the Shore-Lark [Otocorys 

 alpestris) in Great Britain since 1830 led me to expect that 

 it would ultimately visit Ireland. 



One has just been received, perfectly fresh, but much 

 damaged by shot, from Wicklow Head, where it was killed 

 on November 4th, 1910, by Mr. John M. Trant, who did 

 not know the bird was rare and new to this country. 



Richard M. Barrington. 



