OCCASIONAL NOTES. 451 
believe, seeing how unobservant most people are; but no ornithologist 
could mistake it: besides the Crested Lark is a somewhat smaller bird— 
Temminck says half an inch shorter than the Sky Lark: this tallies with 
my observations, as recorded in ‘ The Zoologist,’ 1874, p. 3946. It being 
a common, though not numerous, species in the North of France, the 
wonder is that so few cross the channel. A writer quoted by Yarrell says, 
“‘T am convinced I have. frequently met them in the furrows and meadows 
of Dublin.” Yarrell, apparently, was convinced too. According to old 
authorities there are two species; but Temminck (and seemingly Le 
Vaillant) considered the Grosse Allouette hupée a mere variety, saying, 
“Ce_n’est qu'une varieté constante du Cochevis ordinaire.” With regard 
to the Greater Crested Lark I can say nothing, never having met with it. 
The Crested Larks seen in Brittany were decidedly smaller than the Sky 
Lark ; so is this bird—Hernry Hapriexp (Ventnor, Isle of Wight). 
Toaps 1n IrELanD.—As there has been some little correspondence in 
‘The Zoologist’ respecting the existence of Toads in this country, it may 
perhaps interest some of your readers to hear that when I was in Kerry, 
about three months ago, I discovered the Natterjack, Bufo calamita, at 
Ballyearberry, near Caherciveen, which is quite a new locality for it. 
I brought two specimens away, and have them now alive beside me in a 
large box, and they appear to be doing well upon the worms that they are 
fed with. The only other place where, I believe, they are known to exist 
is at a distance (over a mountainous road) of about twenty miles, in the 
same county, from Ballycarberry. They there extend from the sandhills of 
Inch and Rosbegh to Carrignaferry, a distance of about ten miles in length 
and breadth. At Ballycarberry the tract they occupy does not exceed one 
mile in extent, as far as I could make out from the appearance of the 
ground. Whether the Toad should be considered indigenous to Ireland or 
not, is a vexed question, as there is an old tradition that some ship brought 
a lot of them which were liberated in Dingle Bay.—W. Kinsey Dover 
(Castle Connor, Ballina, Co. Mayo). 
Sunfish IN THE Briston CHanneEL.—At .the end of August and 
beginning of September a number of Sunfish (Orthagoriseus mola) were 
observed about the mouth of the Bristol Channel. Some were seen close 
in by the harbour at Ilfracombe. A gentleman fishing for bass on Bideford 
Bay observed a couple basking on the surface of the water, and another was 
reported to have been seen on the same day from another boat. These fish 
are called “ Herring Hogs” by the trawlers.— Murray A. Maraew(Bishop’s 
Lydeard). 
Suort SunrisH In THE Exr.—On the 10th August last Mr. John 
Holman, of Topsham, was fishing, with a party of friends, in the estuary 
_ of the Exe, off Powderham, which is about three miles from the sea, when 
they caught in the net a small specimen of the Short Sunfish, Orthayoriscus 
