NOTES AND QUERIES. 73 



not take similar care of their young after arriving in this country from 

 the far north ? These Geese had evidently only arrived that morning, 

 driven before the northerly gale, and, reaching Bartragh as the first 

 land they met, dropped down to rest and feed. Another rare visitor was 

 a splendid Snowy Owl, that Captain Kirkwood saw standing on a little 

 hillock among the sand-hills. He watched it for some time, and was 

 amused by the queer appearance of its great yellow eyes as it turned 

 its head from side to side, watching every quarter. He left for a few 

 minutes to send for his gun, but the bird disappeared before his return, 

 probably to conceal itself among the high sand-hills of the rabbit- 

 warren, where it could feed at its leisure on the rabbits. On the 8th inst. 

 Capt. Kirkwood sent me a very fine specimen of the Glaucous Gull in 

 its first year's plumage, which was found dead on the shore, but uninjured, 

 and evidently starved. On Dec. 9th an Iceland Gull passed close by 

 me ; and again on the 14th, walking near the shore here, another, or 

 the same bird, passed by me again. On the 20th inst. my friend 

 Mr. H. Scroope, of Ballina, saw an Iceland Gull, with two Herring- 

 Gulls, flying about the river between the two bridges at Ballina ; it 

 pitched in a field close to the river, when Mr. Scroope remarked that 

 it was smaller, and of much slighter build than the Herring-Gulls, 

 thus proving that it was an Iceland and not a Glaucous Gull. This 

 bird was in the creamy-coloured plumage similar to the bird I saw on 

 Dec. 9th and 14th, and may have been the same bird that had wandered 

 up the river. — Kobert Warren (Moy View, Ballina). 



Birds observed at Grindelwald. — In ' The Zoologist' (1905, p. 129), 

 I came upon an account by the Kev. A. Ellison of some birds observed 

 at Grindelwald. I have just been spending a fortnight there, and so 

 perhaps a few more notes might be interesting. It is curious that 

 your contributor does not mention the Raven, a bird which appeared 

 to be abundant. I several times got within fifty yards of them, and, 

 as I am well acquainted with the Raven both in its wild state and in 

 captivity, I do not think I can have made any mistake in identifying 

 the species. They would sometimes feed with the Carrion- Crows by 

 the river. With regard to Blackbirds, I saw three or four, as far as I 

 could see, all cock-birds. I also saw by the river for a few moments 

 a Pipit, but did not have time to identify it. Dippers were common 

 there. I did not go up the Faulhorn, which, from Mr. Ellison's letter, 

 appears to be the best locality. In the chalet in which I was staying 

 there was a fine specimen of an Eagle-Owl, shot at Grindelwald by 

 Herr Boss, one of the proprietors of the Bear Hotel, who also told me 

 that Eagles (mostly Golden) were almost common, particularly in the 

 Zool. 4th ser. vo'i. XL, February. 1907, G 



