840 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



type than that usually met with, it would materially assist those who have 

 the management of public collections of birds, and make those collections far 

 more useful by securing uniformity of arrangement and nomenclature, the 

 want of which is so much felt. — R. J. Howakd (Fern Bank, Blackburn). 



Ornithological Notes from Ireland. — I saw a beautiful specimen of 

 the Squacco Heron among the collection of stuffed birds at Castlefreke, 

 Co. Cork ; unfortunately the bird bears no history, except " shot by my 

 keeper," but I searched out a former keeper, and found out from him that 

 it was killed about 1870. Last autumn I noticed very peculiar behaviour 

 in a Rook. I was driving through the Co. Galway, on September 20th, 

 and saw a Rook sitting on a fence a few yards from the road with a twig 

 about six inches long in his beak ; presently he flew across the road directly 

 before my horse's head, with the twig in bis claws, and as I watched he put 

 down his beak to take the twig out of his claws, and hovered for some 

 seconds waving it in the air, then he changed it to his claws again by 

 putting them up towards his beak and drooping his bead until the stick 

 came within reach of his feet. This he did several times, hovering over 

 the held all the time, as if it were a gymnastic performance and he was 

 calling for the admiration of his companions. About this time last year 

 (June, 1882) I dissected a couple of Black-headed Gulls, and in the stomach 

 of one of them I found eight leeches and eight mollusks (Limnaa palmtris). 

 While exploring tbe handsome ruins of Moyne Abbey, in Co. Mayo, on the 

 7th August last, I found a Swallow's nest in a curious situation. It was in 

 a hole in the wall, about eight feet from the ground, and the entrance was 

 partially built up with mud ; it contained eggs slightly incubated. My friend 

 Mr. Robert Warren told me that he found a Swallow's nest in a similar 

 situation in Moyne Abbey. About the same time I discovered another nest 

 of the same species under a low arch beneath the road, placed on a stone 

 jutting out from the bank, and within six inches of the water. Apropos of 

 Mr. H. C. Hart's note (p. 257), I may state that last summer, as I was 

 searching among the Mayo mountains for another inland breeding-place of 

 Cormorants, I was misled by seeing numbers of these birds flying inland 

 every evening in a particular direction, and finding the place and seeing 

 several of the birds perched on the trees on a small island in a little lake 

 about three miles from Ballina, I tbought my search was successful, but was 

 disappointed to find that they were only roosting there. When at school at 

 Portora, Co. Fermanagh, I recollect being deceived, as Mr. Hart was, about 

 the Cormorants' eggs, but was more fortunate with those of the Greylag. — 

 J. Ffolliott Darling (Clonakittvi. 



The Blue-headed Yellow Wagtail in Co. Cork.— I saw three Blue- 

 headed Yellow Wagtails, Motacilla flava, Linn., on July 18th, walking on 

 the roof of this house. One has been about the place, off and on, up to 





