152 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



Hybernation of Squirrels. — With regard to the hybernation of 

 Squirrels, which is just now receiving attention in ' The Zoologist,' I would 

 mention that here, — in this part of the country, at any rate, — I would 

 undertake to find the traces of the Squirrel in the snow whenever the 

 ground is covered with it. My belief is that Squirrels dislike damp and 

 wet much more than cold. — F.P.Johnson (Castleheads, Brampton, 

 Cumberland). 



BIRDS. 



The Lesser Kestrel in Ireland.— On the 20th of February last, Mr. 

 Tank, of Aungier Street, brought to me, for identification, an adult male 

 of the Lesser Kestrel, Falco cenchris, freshly killed. He had just received 

 it from Mr. W. H. Cowell, to whom it had been presented. Mr. Michael 

 Carr informs me that he shot it on the 17th of February, on his farm at 

 Woodford, near Shankill, Co. Dublin. When killed it was feeding upon 

 earthworms, on freshly ploughed ground. My friend Mr. James Johnston, 

 of Bray, has very kindly made enquiries in the neighbourhood, and has 

 ascertained some interesting particulars concerning the habits of the bird 

 since its first arrival, which I proceed to quote from his letter — " It first 

 appeared at Glenamuck (George Byrne's place) early in November, about 

 the 8th or 10th of the month. The ploughman told Mr. Byrne that a 

 Hawk had followed him during the afternoon. Mr. Byrne at first took no 

 notice, but, hearing of it on several evenings, he went one day to the field 

 where the plough was at work, and saw the bird ; it was then very tame. 

 Next day he brought down a gun, and, when the bird returned, he fired and 

 missed it. This shot made it very wary on sight of a gun, so that, although 

 it still fed close to any of the workmen, yet, if a man appeared with a gun, 

 it was off at once. January 4th was the last day it was seen at Glenamuck, 

 On that day a brother of Mr. Byrne followed it, but to no purpose. After 

 this I have two records of its being observed by a sportsman named Sutton, 

 who had previously, on different occasions, seen the bird at Glenamuck, and 

 tried to get a shot at it. Sutton is himself a farmer, and his last observa- 

 tions were both made on newly-ploughed land. During the snow the bird 

 was not seen, but, after the thaw, when ploughing was resumed, it appeared 

 again. Its manner of feeding was something like that of a Gull, — at one 

 time walking along the furrows, busily working the freshly-turned sod, 

 again rising on the wing, and quartering behind the workmen until a fat 

 worm appeared, on which it would immediately drop. The bird usually fed 

 from about eleven o'clock until evening." It only remains to add that the 

 only occasion on which Mr. Carr saw the bird was on the 17th of February, 

 the day he shot it, and that it was a couple of hours about the place before 

 he secured it. Thus it appears that this little Hawk remained in the same 

 neighbourhood, on the borders of Dublin and Wicklow, for at least three 

 months, — A. G. More (74, Leinster Road, Dublin). 



