I9I5 



Notes 



217 



find another record lor Ireland. It belongs to the Capsidae, which 

 are mostly attached to various plants and bushes, and is said to be found 

 on hazels. There were not any hazel trees near where I was sitting 

 that I saw, and I don't think a Hemipteron would mistake a newspaper 

 for that tree. I shall hope to be able, on another occasion, to make 

 further search for this interesting species in the same locality. 



W. F. Johnson. 



Poyntzpass. 



Bobin and Mouse. 



I was rather surprised to observe a mouse running along the branches 

 of a laurel bush in my shubbery here ; but still more was I surprised 

 when a Robin flew from an adjoining bush and made an attack on the 

 mouse. The mouse, however, did not run away, but faced its assailant, 

 rising on its hind quarters and biting at the Robin. The latter evidently 

 did not bargain for so warm a reception, and flew away, whereupon the 

 mouse resumed its journey and disappeared in the direction of my 

 stackyard. 



I have wondered ever since whether the Robin thought the mouse 

 was a big moth or something like that which it could eat, or whether 

 it was prompted to its action by its innate pugnacity ? 



W. F. Johnson. 



Poyntzpass. 



The Arrival of the Cliiflfchaff. 



Mr. Xevin H. Foster mentions [Irish Naturalist, 1915, p. loi) that the 

 Chifl'chaff [Phylloscopus rufiis, Bechst.) was seen and heard at Carling- 

 ford on 5th April this year, five days earlier than he subsequently noted 

 its arrival at Hillsborough. This species was in song in the woods at 

 Kylemore Castle, Co. Galway, on the 2nd April, 1915, the opening date of 

 my visit to the neighbourhood. ^ly notes show that at the same spot in 

 1 910, I heard and saw the Chiffchaft" on 27th IMarch. 



Geo. R. Humphreys 



Dublin. 



Rook's Nest Fifteen Feet above the Ground. 



At Aughavannagh, Co. Wicklow, a little colony of Rooks nest in a 

 small group of v.ind -swept Larches and other trees. The trees are not 

 more than about 25 feet high, and the lowest nest is 15 feet above the 

 ground. Is not this unusually low for a Rook's nest ? 



R. Lloyd Praeger. 



Dublin, 



