46 
The Irish Naturalist. 
February, 
Gulls and Gravity. 
Apropos of Mr. Colgan's observations in the January number {supra, 
p. 14), I may add that on December 24, from the Clontarf tram, my wife 
and I counted eight Herring Gulls engaged in the occupation described 
by the observer named, namely, carrying sea-shells high into the air 
and then deliberately dropping them. There was a whole mob of gulls 
flying about, and probably further observation would have shown that 
the majority of them were practising this device. A "knowledge of 
the laws of gravity " would seem to constitute apart of the stock-in-trade 
of every well-educated Herring Gull. 
R. lyi, PraEGER. 
Dublin. 
Polecat remains in a Clare Kitchen-midden. 
Miss D. C. Parkinson, who has recently been exploring the kitchen- 
middens of Lahinch, Co. Clare, found among other bones the lower jaw 
of a small mammal, which she handed to me for identification I was 
surprised to find that it did not belong to our Irish species, but to the 
Polecat {Ptitorius putorius) which is not known to exist in this country. 
It is unlikely that anyone would introduce Polecats into this country, 
but Ferrets, which are only pale-coloured domestic forms of Polecats, 
are frequently brought over for sport. On asking Miss Parkinson for 
further information she thought that Ferrets were often introduced for 
trapping Rabbits in the sandhills. The little jaw, moreover, has a recent 
look about it, and it possibly belongs to a ferret which found its death in 
a rabbit burrow. I thought it right to place the occurrence on record, 
because there is of course a possibility that the Polecat may once have 
been an inhabitant of this country, and have become extinct within re- 
cent times. 
R. F. SCHARKF. 
Dublin Museum. 
GEOLOGY. 
The Origin of Galway Bay. 
With reference to my geological notes in last month s Irish Naturalist, 
I am informed by Mr. J. D. I^awson, from whose paper I abstracted a 
quotation {supra, p. 10) that the name "Kinahan" in his' paper was a 
misprint for •' Kirwan." I regret having been the medium for attributing 
to Mr. G. H. Kinahan an opinion which that veteran geologist does not 
hold, and one which I never really believed had originated with him. 
Henry J. Seymour. 
Geological vSurvey, Dublin. 
