106 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



(January, 1888). Their large size and thick beaks at once attracted my 

 attention, and, having carefully measured them, 1 have no doubt of their 

 being examples of Loxia pityopsittacus. Their dimensions agree exactly 

 with those of this species given in Yarrell's ' British Birds' (4th ed. vol. ii. 

 p. 210). Their bills at the base are quite one-fifth of an inch higher than 

 those of some half-dozen specimens of L. curvirostra which I have measured, 

 and coincide perfectly in form and size with that of a specimen of L. pityo- 

 psittacus, said to have been obtained in Kent, forming part of the collection 

 of Mr. Bower Scott, of Chudleigh, now in the Albert Memorial Museum, 

 Exeter. They are both in fine red plumage, though one has some bright 

 yellow feathers sprinkled over it. The only previously recorded occurrence 

 of this species in Devon is that given by Dr. Moore, in his list of Birds 

 published in Eowe's 'Perambulation of Dartmoor' (page 232), where 

 Mr. Newton is said " to have shot nine near Millaton in 1838. — W. S. M. 

 D'Urban (10, Claremont Terrace, Exmouth). 



The Distribution of the Jay in Ireland. — The restricted distribution 

 of the Jay in Ireland is very curious. Kilkenny and Queen's County, with 

 parts of the adjacent counties of Carlow, Kildare, King's County, and 

 Tipperary will perhaps include the whole of its range in the island. In 

 Kilkenny, Inistioge and Gowran ; in Queeu's County, Portarlington and 

 Abbeyleix may be mentioned as localities much frequented by this bird. 

 In Kildare, where a correspondent in the January number of ' The 

 Zoologist' (p. 32) asks whether it is to be found, it is common in the 

 neighbourhood of Monasterevin. There can be little doubt that the Jay 

 was formerly more numerous and widely distributed in this country than it 

 is at present, and it may possibly at no very distant date become extinct as 

 an Irish species. In this neighbourhood, and I think in any part of 

 Wicklow, it only occurs as a rare visitor, some six or seven specimens only 

 having been shot or observed here within the last ten years, though within 

 the memory of the present generation it was a regular inhabitant of our 

 woods. Eeports of the occurrence of Jays must be accepted from the 

 country people with caution, as the name is constantly misapplied by them 

 to the Missel Thrush. — Allan Ellison (Shillelagh, Co. Wicklow). 



Starlings in Ireland. — With reference to Mr, Allan Ellison's observa- 

 tions (p. 16) on Starlings and other birds last year in Ireland, I may say that 

 Starliugs have never been so abundant here in South Wexford as they are 

 this year. Every evening between 4 and 6 o'clock they fly over, in large 

 and numerous flocks, ou their way to a favourite roosting-place close to this. 

 The noise of their wings is, as your correspondent remarks, like the " sound 

 of a distant torrent." The flocks often come over almost continuously, and 

 the other night I counted about twenty-five flocks in about ten minutes. 

 They may be seen gathering together and starting at places seven miles from 



