76 



The Irish Naturalist, 



April, 1915. 



Disappearance of Squirrels. 



I have had the same experience here that Mr. Barrington has had at 

 Fassaroe {supra, p. 112). Squirrels have practically vanished. Here, 

 however, they seem to have gone in a comparatively short time, i.e , in 

 1914. In 191 3 we had a fine crop of nuts, Kentish cobs, filberts, etc., but 

 the squirrels came down on them just as we were going to gather them, 

 and in two days every nut was gone. Last year they did not touch one, 

 and we gathered a fine crop. They were mischievous little rascals, but 

 I miss them and hope they will return. 



G. H. Pentlaxd. 



Droghoda. 



Dolphins in the Boyne. 



Last autumn, about the last week in October, 1 heard that two 

 " porpoises" were stranded in the Boyne near Queensboro', about a mile 

 from the sea. ]My daughter told me they were about six feet long, nearly 

 black above, white below, and had long beaks full of small teeth. When 

 she saw them they were not long dead. I went there next day, and 

 was disappointed to find that they had been skinned and a good deal 

 mutilated. However, the beak of one of them was intact. It was about 

 a foot long and full of small, sharp teeth, about forty -five on each 

 side, that is, about ninety teeth in the upper jaw, and about 

 the same number in the lower. I judged from this that the two unlucky 

 beasts were specimens of Delphi s delphinus, and Dr. Scharff, to whom 

 I described them, thinks so too. I went back a few days later to secure the 

 skulls, but found the tide had drifted the animals into deep mud, and 

 I could not get nearer than twenty yards from them. There were eight 

 Great Blackbacked Gulls feeding on one of them, so greedily that they 

 absolutely refused to move. This, the so-called Common Dolphin, is by 

 no means common in these seas, so perhaps this is worth putting on 

 record. 



G. H. Pentlaxd. 



Drogheda. 



The Speckled Otter. 



In July, 1909, I published a note in the IrisJi Naturalist (vol. xviii., 

 pp. 141 -2, pi. 2) on the occurrence in Ireland of a variety of the Otter 

 in which the fur is dotted all over with white spots. It was obtained in 

 Lough Sheelin, County Cavan. A few weeks ago Miss Knowles showed 

 me an Otter skin very much like the one described and figured in the 

 number of the Irish Naturalist referred to, and I now learn from her that 

 it came from Kilcolgan, in the County Galway. This village lies at the 

 mouth of a small stream, unconnected with the Shannon drainage, which 

 empties its waters into Galway Bay. 



R. F, Scharff. 



National Museum, Dublin. 



