82 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



these were young Shearwaters. This was told me last May, when my 

 friend Mr. Barriugton came with me to Lambay. Up to that time I had 

 not identified the noise, but my supposition that it proceeded from an Owl 

 had been shaken by my Howth friends asserting that they had seen as well 

 as heard the bird flying over the water in the afternoou, and that it was 

 evidently a seafowl. Mr. Barrington was so much interested that he went 

 out that night, and was lucky enough to hear it. Connecting this habitat 

 with that of Howth, I began again to suspect the Shearwater, which I had 

 hitherto set down as a silent bird, in consequence of finding no allusion to 

 its note in the books ; and on the 1st July last I was fortunate enough to 

 see and hear a flock of about thirty birds crowing and hooting in concert. 

 Mr. Barrington has described the sound (p. 29) in the syllables " kuck- 

 kuck koo," which, often much prolouged, and repeated quickly five 

 or six times at intervals, is as close as it can be rendered in words. 

 The birds seldom make this noise by day, but on heavy still after- 

 noons in May, June, and July they are not unfrequently to be heard on 

 the south side of Howth. They may then be seen far out to sea, swerving 

 in occasionally, and coming nearer towards dusk. During the night, 

 especially if it be dark, they hardly cease till dawn, flying over the cliffs 

 and land bordering the sea. The sound must be well known to those who 

 fish and boat by night, and to coastguards like McCarron, a correspondent 

 of Mr. Barrington 's, who takes much interest in birds, and who suggested 

 the above words for the cry of the " night bird," as it is called in Kerry. 

 Heard at night it is sufficiently gruesome to build any ghostly tales on, and 

 may, perhaps, have favoured a superstition of a " night crow " or " night 

 raven " in its time. — H. Chichester Hart (Dublin). 



[It can hardly be said that naturalists have treated the Manx Shear- 

 water as a silent bird. Yarrell, for instance, on the authority of D. W. 

 Mitchell, remarks (vol. iii., p. 656): — "They make no noise when dis- 

 turbed, though in their holes they are eloquent enough, the Scillonian 

 synonyms of Grew and Cockatkodon being derived from the guttural melodies 

 they pour forth." Apparently the Orkuey name for this bird, Lyre, 

 in Shetland Lyrie, noticed by Sibbald, Low, Montagu, and Saxby, has 

 reference to the sounds which it utters. The Norwegiau name also, 

 Skrabe, looks as if it were onomatopoeic. Sir R. Payne Gallwey, in his 

 recently-published work, ' The Fowler in Ireland,' describes the note of this 

 bird, which he heard on the Skelligs (p. 260), as resembling the syllables 

 " Took-a-hoo, tOok-a hoo."— Ed.] 



The Note of the Manx Shearwater.— Referring to my note on the 

 cry of the Manx Shearwater (p. 28), let me draw attention to the statement 

 on p. 260 of ' The Fowler in Ireland,' by Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey, which 

 book has appeared since my note was written. The writer, describing the 

 Skelligs and their sea-fowl, says : — " A few steps farther, and we hear 



