1905. 



Notes, 



183 



A light buff Skylark. 



While walking along the banks of the River Dee in Co. Louth, between 

 Drumcar and Dromin Junction, I saw a Skylark {Alaiida arvensis) of a 

 light buff colour, hovering with some ordinary coloured birds of the 

 same species. Is not this a curious variation from the ordinary colour 1 

 I have seen stuffed a similar variation of the Common Snipe ( Gallinago 

 coelestis) that was shot by my uncle some forty years ago near Randals- 

 town, Co. Antrim. 



B. L. L. M*Ci.iNTOCK. 



Crumlin, Co. Antrim. 



Irish Cetaceans. 



In proceedings which have just been issued of the International 

 Zoological Congress held at Eerne last year, Prof. R.J. Anderson gives 

 us some particulars on the rarer species of the Irish Whale tribe. He 

 states (p. 703-711) that during the last few years Balcenoptera rostrata, 

 Globiocephahis melas, Grampus griseus, and Mesoplodon Hectori, were stranded 

 on the west coast. The last species which has been obtained from the 

 Aran Islands had already been described in the Irish Naturalist (June 

 1904). The Grampus griseus was cast up near Galway, while Globiocephalus 

 melas seems to have been received from the north of Ireland. The paper 

 is accompanied by four plates representing skulls of whales, but Prof. 

 Anderson might have informed us where the originals are to be found. 

 The term "Nat. Mus." in itself does not convey much to the reader of 

 the Proceedings of an International Congress. 



The Wild Oat in Ireland. 



Mr. de Vismes Kane's remarks in the July number of Irish Naturalist 

 on my notes on Wild Cats in the previous number, evidently shows that 

 he has mistaken my meaning, and he even misquotes one paragraph. 



I made no comments on the fish-eating habits of the cats mentioned 

 by the old fisherman, but merely remarked that his story need not be 

 taken seriously, and I am still of that opinion. The paragraph mis- 

 quoted reads thus : — " For if wild cats are so numerous, as slated, on the 

 banks of the Irackagh, in such a wild uninhabited district, where pro- 

 bably no trapper ever laid a trap, some remnants of the race must be yet 

 in existence." 



I will further remark, that if in the old fisherman's time wild cats were 

 so numerous in the locality, how is it that no remnants of the race exist 

 at the present time? While in Scotland, the wild cats with similar sur- 

 roundings, still hold their own against all the attacks made on them by 

 game preservers and keepers. 



Their disappearance from the fisherman's district cannot be attributed 

 to scarcity of food, for both small mammals and birds are as 

 numerous as ever ; nor can it be ascribed to what caused the extermi- 



