NOTES AND QUERIES. 4=97 



W. Jardine is the only author who appears to have noticed any dissimilarity 

 in the sexes of the young. That author says (Brit. Birds, vol. i. p. 146), 

 " In the young males the head aud tail have a slight greyish tinge, and the 

 bars are more indistinct or clouded on the latter"; but here he errs in 

 stating that the head shows any tinge of grey, for the colour of the head is 

 similar in both sexes, My brother, Mr. 0. V. Aplin, and I have observed 

 that the sexes of young Kestrels can be distinguished at a glance directly 

 the feathers of the tail begin to sprout. In the young female the tail 

 resembles that of the adult of the same sex, the ground colour being rufous, 

 with the dark bars regular, complete, and comparatively broad, while in 

 the young male the tail from its first appearance is decidedly blue; the 

 dark markings are much narrower than in the female, and form only 

 irregular and incomplete bars. The blue of the tail is not, however, so 

 pure as in the adult male, being suffused in the terminal half with rufous — 

 more noticeable on the inner webs of the feathers. Another mark of 

 distinction is the markings upon the shoulders and upper part of the wings, 

 which are less distinct and regular than in the female. The rufous ground 

 colour, also, including the tinge on the tail, is of a different red, and 

 resembles that of the adult male. In none of the works above mentioned 

 do I find it stated that the young, before they assume feathers, are covered 

 with a bluish grey colour. — F. C. Aplin (Bodicote, Oxon). 



Notes from County Cork. — Under the description given by Yarrell 

 (4th edition) of the Long-tailed Titmouse, Acredula caudata, we read, " In 

 Ireland it would seem to have been observed in some thirteen counties only, 

 and in none to the south-west of Galway aud Tipperary." This is not 

 strictly correct. Although I have not myself seen this-Titmouse outside 

 Myross Wood, — from an eminence whence American steamers can be seen 

 steaming past the south-west coast, — there are numerous representatives of 

 the kind among the birds frequenting the place, and I gather from friends 

 that they have seen it in different localities in South- West Cork. When 

 out shooting pigeons (Columba livia) on October 10th, as we were rowing 

 under the ocean cliffs east of Glandore Harbour, I was surpised to see a 

 Kingfisher fly from the foot of the rocks and skim over the great waves 

 rolling in from the Atlantic. Among the birds observed in our excursion 

 were two Peregrine Falcons high in the air over a lofty cliff called " Fil-na- 

 Shuk," — i. e. the Hawk's Cliff, — and very appropriately, as it is nearly 

 always frequented by hawks, generally Kestrels. Two Choughs were also 

 flying about over the same cliff, now and again making sudden drops and 

 uttering their " chuf, chuf." As our boat neared some rocks we startled two 

 Oystercatchers, Hmmatopus ostralegus. Gulls were about in considerable 

 numbers, and we met with Curlews, Numenius arquata, all along the shore. 

 Nine or ten Shags, Phalacrocorax graculus, including a good many young, 



