I920. 



Notes. 



133 



Psithyrus rupestris in Co. Dublin. 



On the 2nd of August I took an old female of this cuckoo-bee on 

 the banks of the Grand Canal near Clondalkin. Mr. Sladen in his book 

 " The Humble-Bee " docs not include Dubhn among the few Irish 

 counties from which this species has been recorded. It is curious that 

 the two specimens that enabled me to add Co. Wexford to the range of 

 the same insect {I.N., vol. xxvi., p. 154) were also taken in August. 

 These belated specimens are, however, more easily detected than those 

 that fly in June, when many females of Bombus lapidarius, the bee that 

 Psithyrus rupestris resembles and victimises, are also on the wing. 



C. B. Moffat. 



Dublin. 



The Marsh Tit in Dublin. 



On the morning of September loth, while working in the great " New 

 Storehouse " of St. James's Gate Brewery, I noticed a small bird hopping 

 about among the tiebars of the roof ; on investigation I was much 

 surprised to find that it was Parus palustris — a species which was pointed 

 out to me near London last June. As an additional precaution I asked 

 a man working near by to watch it for a while — he told me he thought 

 it was a "flinch," but it "wasn't a this-country bird anyway" — but 

 he agreed with me that the top and back of the head were certainly black. 

 As the building in question stands on rising ground, is 120 feet high, and 

 brightly lighted all night, it may hav^e some of the fatal attraction of a 

 lighthouse for migrating birds. The bird remained in the roof for half 

 an hour or so, apparently picking spiders and midges from joints in the 

 tiebars, and then made its escape through an open window. 



J. P. Brunker. 



St. James's Gate, Dublin. 



The Great Reed Warbler in Ireland. 



In the Field for the 12th of June Mr. J. E. Harting announces the 

 occurrence of the Great Reed Warbler {Acrocephalus anindinaceus) in 

 Ireland, on the strength of an example picked up dead in a garden at 

 Cosheen, Castle Townshend, on the i6th of May last, by Mr. E. D. Cuming. 

 Mr. Cuming had the quickness of eye to be struck with the bright orange- 

 yellow hue of the inside of the bird's mouth (a peculiarity mentioned in 

 Saunders' " Manual," but not so often alluded to in description of this 

 rare visitor as would seem to be desirable), and at once sent his " find " 

 in the flesh to Mr. Harting. The addition of so rare a visitor to the 

 Irish list is an event of considerable interest. Only about a dozen 

 occurrences are on record for the British Islands, and statements as to 

 its having been found nesting in England are not accepted as proven. 

 Mr. Harting believes that the bird sent him by Mr. Cuming was a female. 



