I920. 



Notes. 



123 



examining the specimen taken by Mr. L. E. Adams by the river above 

 Coleraine, and found it was only a rather large, not quite mature, specimen 

 of V. substriala. The second tooth on the body whorl is not perfectly 

 developed (owing to age). This probably accounts for its having been 

 mistaken for V. alpestris by Mr. Adams and passed for such by Gwyn 

 Jeffreys. 



Having been recorded as Irish on such good authority, it was but 

 natural that other collectors would be on the look-out for it, and not long 

 afterwards Mr. Standen reported its occurrence in shell-pockets at White- 

 park Bay, Co. Antrim (and Portsalon, W. Donegal). If sufficient shells of 

 Vertigo pygmaea from these shell-pockets and the deposits in the sandhills 

 be looked through, I believe it possible to pick out odd examples of this 

 species which will agree with V. alpestris in size, shape and texture. The 

 original record having proved erroneous, and no further living specimens 

 having been found in Ireland, coupled with the fact that V. alpestris is 

 not likely to occur in a sandhill deposit, I am inclined to refer Mr. 

 Standen 's shells to V. pygmaea and to suggest the removal of V. alpestris 

 from the Irish list till reliable evidence is forthcoming that it has ever 

 lived in Ireland. 



A. W. Stelfox. 



National Museum, Dublin. 



The Common Wren. 



Referring to my notes on the Common Wren in the March number of 

 the Irish Naturalist, page 21, Mr. J. P. Burkitt, in the July number for 

 1920, page 68, seems to take exception to my statement that nests of the 

 Wren other than cock-nests are built mainly by the female, and from his 

 own observations there would seem to be no need for a female to build a 

 nest at all, which is, I think, contrary to the habits of this species in this 

 part of Yorkshire. 



In substantiation of my position that the female does take part in the 

 building of the nest which is built for breeding purposes, may I be allowed 

 to give an extract from Macgillivray's " History of the British Birds." 

 In volume 3, page 24, under the head of the Common Wren, the writer, a 

 very competent field naturalist, states : — 



" I this day, Miy 30th, 1837, had a favourable opportunity of observing 

 the erection of one of the neatest of our British bird nests. Yesterday 

 a pair of Common Wrens flew about for a considerable time in a particular 

 spot in my shrubbery, as if in search of a proper situation for constructing 

 the dwellin ; which should contain their intended brood. About a quarter 

 past six this morning they appeared to be engaged in the most serious 

 consultation. At seven o'clock in one of the clefts of a Spanish juniper, 

 about two feet in height from the ground, with the decayed leaf of a lime 

 tree, the female began to lay the foundation of her building. Her per- 

 severance was indeed astonishing, for she sometimes carried in bundles of 

 leaves as bulky as herself. To her beloved partner she seemed to give 



