OCCASIONAL NOTES. 487 
KirrrwakeE.—Common. Its numbers are greatly increased in 
April and May by fresh arrivals, which disappear by June. It 
breeds on Lambay. 
Sxua.—I never obtained a Skua along this coast, though 
I have often seen them in Dublin Bay, near Bray Head, Ireland’s 
Eye, and farther up the coast, always in autumn. They were 
probably Richardson's or Buffon’s. 
Manx SHEARWATER.— An uncertain spring and autumn visitor, 
although in some years there are thousands. In May, 1875, 
Dublin Bay was literally full of them; in 1877 I could not get 
a single specimen. 
Hrrata.—P. 451, line 9 from top. The statement having reference to the 
oeeurrence of the Wood Wren in Co. Dublin should have been Editorial.;; P. 453, 
line 11 from bottom, for ‘‘last winter” read “in the winter of 1877—8,”, P, 454, 
line 16 from top, for “it is found” read “it is not found.” 
OCCASIONAL NOTES. 
ORIGIN OF THE NAME “ Puss.”—The cat was worshipped in Egypt as 
a symbol of the moon, not only because more active at night, but from the 
priests conceiving that the contraction and dilatation of the eye afforded an 
emblem of the increase and decrease of the moon’s ever-changing orb. In 
the British Museum may be seen several figures of the cat-headed goddess 
Pasht, under which name the moon was worshipped by the Egyptians, 
Pasht signifying the face of the moon, ‘ Pasht” is compounded of the 
consonants, P, SH, T;,T is the Coptic feminine article, which, being 
omitted, the name is reduced to P.SH, but the aspirate SH, should be the 
tenuis $, and then the word would be PS, as in Hebrew, which may be 
pronounced “ Pas” or “Pus” (Puss). It thus appears that our familiar 
name for the cat can boast of a very high antiquity.—J. E. Harrine. 
Rep Firrip VoLE 1 Dryonsuire.—A second specimen of the Red 
Field Vole, or Bank Vole, Arvicola glareolus (Schreber), was, brought to 
me on the 7th November by Mr. A. Dudley, of Ide, near Exeter. A careful 
examination of the molar teeth established the identity of the species, which 
may now be added with certainty to the Devonshire fauna—W. S. M. 
D’Urzan (Curator, Albert Memorial Museum, Exeter). 
Lone-ratLED Duck 1x Cornwaru.—I have never heard of the Long- 
tailed Duck in Cornwall in its full plumage, but it occasionally occurs in 
winter in its immature form, without the elongated tail-feathers. On the 
