iNOTES. 189 



of a hare which must have been killed within a week or two. 

 In August of the x^resent year Messrs. Warren and Barrington 

 revisited the north Mayo coast and rowed along the base of 

 the cliffs, but could find no traces of the Eagles, while the 

 boatmen all agreed that it was some years since any had been 

 observed in their old haunts. 



The disax^pearance of this fine species from the Irish fauna 

 is a national loss, and is the more to be regretted as the breed- 

 ing stock in Scotland is now reduced to a very low ebb, so 

 that any untoward accident to the few surviving pairs will 

 mean the extinction of this species in the British Isles. Mr. 

 Warren is of opinion that the Golden Eagle {Aquila chrysa'etus) 

 is in Ireland on the verge of extermination, being reduced to a 

 single pair, and states that the eyrie o^ Muilrea is now 

 unoccupied, the last bird having been poisoned in the spring 

 of 1910. Possibly in this case the number of surviving birds 

 may be under-estimated. F. C. R. Jourdain. 



SNOW-GEESE IN ESSEX. 

 In a recent issue of British Birds {antea, p. 25), I gave some 

 particulars supplied to me by Major Thornhill regarding 

 supposed Snow-Geese [Chen hyperboreus) seen by him in Essex 

 this summer. Mr. A. W. Craig, Rettendon Hall, Wickford, 

 has since given me the following further information. On 

 May 11th, 1911, he saw two Snow-Geese on a strictly preserved 

 marsh near Wickford — getting within thirty-five yards of the 

 birds, and placing their identity beyond question. In July 

 it was reported that they were nesting on another marsh 

 in the vicinity, but this proved false, the birds in this case 

 being merely Sheld-duck, as Mr. Craig discovered. My 

 informant adds that it is thought that any Snow-Geese seen 

 in Essex this summer, must have been birds that had escaped 

 from Woburn. It would be well to have verification of this. 



A. Landsborough Thomson. 



TCIPTED DUCKS BREEDING IN BEDFORDSHIRE. 



I AM very much surprised to read in the September number 

 (p. 114) that there is only one previous record of the breeding 

 of the Tufted Duck {Fuligula cristata) in Bedfordshire. This 

 can only be because it is such an ordinary occurrence that 

 it has not been thought worth reporting. To my certain 

 knowledge, Tufted Ducks have bred in the neighbourhood 

 of Woburn for the last nine years. These are not imported 

 birds ; and though some breed in the park, the greater number 

 breed outside. M. Bedford, 



