NOTES AND QUERIES. 



227 



run away, as if deserting them, when they would stream after her 

 in full cry, like a pack of little hounds, all emitting the querulous 

 cry of fear at being deserted, while it was amusing to see their 

 delight when she waited for them. They were the most interesting 

 little animals I ever kept, were perfectly clean, and emitted no offen- 

 sive smell whatever. When they were full-grown I parted with five, 

 keeping only the little doe, which turned out a first-rate working 

 Ferret ; but unfortunately, to my great regret, she also, like her dam, 

 died of distemper. — Kobert Warren (Moy View, Ballina). 



AVE S. 



Ring- Ouzel at Yarmouth. — On April 25th I received a fine adult 

 male King-Ouzel (Tardus torquatiis), which was killed by striking the 

 telegraph-wires at Cobholm, Yarmouth. Another had met with a 

 similar accident in the same locality in October, 1908. I have reason 

 to believe that this bird meets with its death in the above-named way 

 much more often than the Blackbird, which is its nearest ally. — 

 B. Dye (Great Yarmouth). 



Some Bird-Notes from Ballina. — Our spring weather began very 

 cold and wet ; there was frost every night from March 1st to the 9th. 

 The coldest night was that of the 6th, when the mercury fell to 27°, 

 the w T eather keeping very cold and broken ; we had frost again on the 

 nights of the 16th and 20th. Eain fell every day from the 17th to 

 the 31st, except on the 20th, 22nd, and 30th, which were dry. April 

 began with three wet days, followed by a dry week, and then fourteen 

 wet days. This cold and wet weather delayed the arrival of many of 

 our spring migrants ; yet some appeared in good time. Sandwich 

 Terns were seen near Bartragh the first week in April, though I did 

 not observe any in the estuary until the 12th, when only a pair 

 appeared. On the 14th a pair of Swallows arrived in their old haunts 

 here, and a Chiffchaff was heard in the garden on the 12th. Mr. C. 

 Scroope, near Ballina, heard the latter on the 6th, and Willow- Wrens 

 on the 17th. May began very cold, with two wet days, but subse- 

 quently the weather changed, and then up to the 11th w T e had cold, 

 harsh, drying north and north-east winds which checked the growth 

 of the grass, so that the outlying cattle and sheep experienced hard 

 times. The Corn-Crake and Cuckoo were both late in this locality, 

 not being heard until the 2nd inst., while up to the 20th I did not hear 

 a Willow- Wren, though on the 13th I observed a pair of Whitethroats 

 near Scurmore in some briars on the roadside. On April 25th 



