Marine Mollusks from Northern IrelandAuthor(s): Nora FisherSource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 1, No. 11 (May, 1927), p. 228Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25531389 .

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228 The Irish Naturalists' Journal. [Vol. 1.

CORRESPONDENCE. MARINE MOLLUSKS FROM NORTHERN IRELAND.

Sir,?Can anyone tell me whether Purpura lapillus (L.), var imbricata has ever been recorded for Northern Ireland? I have three fine specimens from the Lawlor collection, marked Portstewart, 1843; also whether Tapes pullastra (Mont.) var. plagia has been recorded for Belfast Lough district?

Greenisland. NORA FISHER.

ROOKS AND " TERRITORY.1

Sir,?I have just acquired a rookery with a residence attached, and a bam owl thrown in. I am so ignorant of rooks that I thought a rookery was a rook's home all the year round. This one (containing a couple of dozen nests with trees for plenty more) is not roosted at in winter, but occasionally through the winter days the birds pay it a visit. They beg-in to shew a serious interest in the nests about February 14th, coming each

morning from somewhere, between 7 and 7-30 a.m. (I was watching from a sick bed so could not investigate) and staying on and off till 9 or 9-30 a.m. Then as the days passed they began to make return visits for a few

minutes about 11 a.m. or again at 12 noon, and later on at 1 p.m. for a

day or two, and once at 3 p.m. Finally by the 6th of March they (or some of them) roosted at the nests, and I do not think any sticks were gathered until then.

This process, in which the birds felt increasingly impelled to leave their winter routine and to spend more and more time securing the nesting site, is

just another example of what has been so well depicted by Mr. Eliot Howard

(Territory in Bird Life) in the case of chaffinches, lapwings, and other

species. It is the call of "

territory," or what an American correspondent terms

** the singing tree." The process usually applies to males. In the

case of colony birds like the rooks and seagulls I am not certain at what

stage the females come into it. The rooks and gulls seem to be paired before

actually settling on the colony.?Yours, Ballinamallard, Co. Fermanagh. J. P. BURKITT.

PREHISTORIC MAMMALS OF IRELAND.

Sir,?I am obliged to Mr. Pringle for calling my attention to certain details in connexion with this subject.

(1) With regard to the first point he raises?the finding of human imple ments in the Breccia of Kent's Cavern?I would say that although the

Breccia is at the lowest level in the cave, it is not therefore necessarily the

oldest. The modern view is that this breccia was brought in suddenly by the bursting of the banks of a glacial lake. It is hot a

" deposit

** at all, like

the stalagmitic floors, but a mass of debris containing objects of all ages up to the date of its formation, mixed up anyhow. Consequently a flint imple

ment found at a depth of 11 feet might be more recent than one found! at 6

feet. All we know about the breccia is that it was formed in Pleistocene

times, because its inrush overwhelmed the Cave Bears which inhabited the

portion of the cave filled by it. That Palaeolithic man also occupied the

cavern, at any rate occasionally, is shown by the few flints found in, the breccia.

(2) The finding by the late Thos. Plunkett in a Fermanagh cave of a

skull which he believed to be that of Ursus spelceus, is of great interest and

importance if it can be substantiated. Where is the specimen ? Other Irish bears found in caves have been identified as belonging to either arctos or

horribilis. The latter is now generally regarded as merely a sub-species of the former. On the other hand the Cave Bear (spelceus) is a very distinct

species and can be easily recognized by its dentition. There seems to be no

reason why the Cave Bear should not occur in Irland, especially since it has

quite recently been, discovered in Sutherland shire?a new record for Scotland. Still there is no definite record for Ireland except Mr. Plunkett*s, and it is

necessary to use caution in admitting this unless the specimen can be pro duced. He may have been misled by the size of the skull; this is no

criterion; a skull of horribilis may be quite as large as one of speloeus. A

careful search should be made for this skull in public and private collections.

Bayston Hill, Shrewsbury. Yours, H. E. FORREST.

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