Short Notes on Natural History. 573 



THE LESSER KESTREL IN IRELAND. 

 [ZOOLOGIST, April, 1891.] 



On the 20th of February last, Mr. Tank, of Aungier-street, brought 

 to me, for identification, an adult male of the Lesser Kestrel, Falco 

 cenchris, freshly killed. He had just received it from Mr. W. H. Cowell, 

 to whom it had been presented. Mr. Michael Carr informs me that he 

 shot it on the i;th of February, on his farm atWoodford, near Shankill, 

 Co. Dublin. When killed it was feeding upon earthworms, on freshly- 

 ploughed ground. My friend, Mr. James Johnston, of Bray, has very 

 kindly made inquiries in the neighbourhood, and has ascertained some 

 interesting particulars concerning the habits of the bird since its first 

 arrival, which I proceed to quote from his letter : " It first appeared at 

 Glenamuck (George Byrne's place) early in November, about the 8th or 

 loth of the month. The ploughman told Mr. Byrne that a Hawk had 

 followed him during the afternoon. Mr. Byrne at first took no notice, 

 but hearing of it on several evenings, he went one day to the field when 

 the plough was at work, and saw the bird; it was then very tame. Next 

 day he brought down a gun, and, when the bird returned, he fired and 

 missed it. This shot made it very wary on sight of a gun, so that, 

 although it still fed close to any of the workmen, yet, if a man appeared 

 with a gun, it was off at once. January the 4th was the last day it was 

 seen at Glenamuck. On that day a brother of Mr. Byrne followed it, 

 but to no purpose. After this I have two records of its being observed 

 by a sportsman named Sutton, who had previously, on different occasions, 

 seen the bird at Glenamuck, and tried to get a shot at it. Sutton is 

 himself a farmer, and his last observations were both made on newly 

 ploughed land. During the snow the bird was not seen, but after the 

 thaw, when ploughing was resumed, it appeared again. Its manner of 

 feeding was something like that of a Gull at one time walking along 

 the furrows, busily working the freshly turned sod, again rising on the 

 wing, and quartering behind the workmen until a fat worm appeared, 

 on which it would immediately drop. The bird usually fed from about 

 1 1 o'clock until evening. It only remains to add that the only occasion 

 on which Mr. Carr saw the bird was on the i7th of February, the day he 

 shot it, and that it was a couple of hours about the place before he 

 secured it. Thus it appears that this little Hawk remained in the same 

 neighbourhood, on the borders of Dublin and Wicklow, for at least three 

 months. 



THE IRISH HARE. 

 [IRISH SPORTSMAN, February i$th, 1892.] 



Even a short continuance of snow and frost seems to produce a 

 noticeable effect in changing the colour of the Irish Hare. For instance, 

 we have lately had just a week of snow, and that not very deep, from the 



