HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



75 



whimbrels were to be seen both by the sea, and 

 especially inland, flying over the l^ogs, and arresting 

 one's attention by their mournful cries : associated 

 with them on the coast, were oyster-catchers, whose 

 black and white plumage rendered them very 

 conspicuous. All three birds are exceedingly wary 

 and difficult to approach : in the open it is almost 

 impossible to get within shot of them ; the only 

 chance of success is to hide behind banks and stalk 

 them, often on hands and knees. 



Whimbrels are called here " May-birds," as in 

 many other parts of the kingdom, from the fact of 

 them arriving in May : most of the natives consider 

 them young curlews. 



Knots and sanderlings were in large flocks : there 

 were a good many redshanks, but I saw no godwits. 

 At high water, large flocks of ringed plovers were 

 to be found on the sand, just above high-water mark : 

 most of them appeared to be asleep in the sun ; at 

 any rate, they allowed me to approach within half-a- 

 dozen yards before taking to flight ; a few, however, 

 in each flock were more restless, running about 

 among their comrades in an aimless fashion. 



On the marshes near the isea, one could always 

 find herons {hibernice cranes), on the look-out for 

 crabs, I suppose ; for crabs were the only animals I 

 could find there. Later on, in the same place, I saw 

 a good many snipe, and some small ducks. I could 

 not get near enough to the latter to determine their 

 species, but I think they were golden-eyes. I am told 

 that the west coast of Mayo is a great resort of ducks 

 and geese in winter : the people say that the geese 

 are principally barnacles, but I think this is a mistake, 

 as the name is very generally misapplied in Ireland 

 to brent geese. 



Hooded crows and rooks were very common : 

 magpies, although very numerous and tame in most 

 parts of Ireland, were conspicuous by their absence 

 here : probably the want of trees in the district 

 accounts for this. 



I was surprised to see so few hawks : one or two 

 kestrels, a single peregrine, and another that I 

 took to be a sparrow-hawk — it was some distance off" 

 — were all I noticed. Report says, however, that 

 there are a pair or two of golden eagles on the cliffs 

 of Achill Island : I regret that I could not find time 

 to go to look for them. 



Inland, I saw a few common buntings ; yellow 

 hammers, linnets and meadow-pipits swarmed, but of 

 goldfinches, tolerably plentiful in other seemingly 

 similar parts of Ireland, I saw none. 



On my pointing out a kingfisher to my gillie, he 

 told me that he had never seen the bird before. 



Water ousels were common on the mountain 

 streams, and as I fished, flitted from rock to rock, 

 and on settling bowed gravely to me in their comical 

 way. 



Wheatears were fairly numerous in September, 

 there were very few swifts and swallows ; terns were 



plentiful about some of the inland lakes, amongst 

 them being a great many immature birds. 



I saw a skylark with almost pure white body. 



A good many rare birds have been recorded from 

 time to time in Co. Mayo, but, of course, to get any, 

 one must be constantly on the look-out, and collect 

 systematically. 



A barred warbler is recorded in a recent number of 

 "The Zoologist" to have been procured near 

 Belmullet in 1884, and to be now in the possession 

 of Dr. Birkett of that town. 



The natives have some curious beliefs : on asking 

 one of the men who work the salmon nets whether 

 he was not very liable to rheumatism from constant 

 wading in the water, he informed me that at the 

 beginning of the season, he ate salmon every day for 

 a fortnight, and that in consequence, the water ran 

 off his skin as from a duck's back. Another legend 

 was, that all the rats which entered the precincts of a 

 ruined abbey, used as a burial-ground, immediately 

 dropped down dead. I took the trouble to visit the 

 place, but saw no rats, dead or alive. On one of 

 the graves were dozens of long "church-warden" 

 pipes, it being the custom at a funeral for each of 

 the mourners to deposit one on the tomb : do any of 

 your readers know of a similar custom in any other 

 part of the country, or the origin of the practice ? 



H. J. W. 



THE CARBONIFEROUS LIMESTONE OF 

 SCOTLAND. 



By Chas. Wardingley. 



\Contimied from p. 64.] 



TURNING now for a short time to the considera- 

 tion of the carboniferous limestone as it occurs 

 in the Dumfries district, it may be remarked at the 

 outset that good exposures such as may be obtained 

 in quarries and railway cuttings are rather limited in 

 number. Of these, the best and most accessible are 

 shown in the accompanying sketch-map. 



The village of Closeburn is situated about twelve 

 milesnorthof Dumfries, and the quarries are a mile to 

 the south-east of the railway station. These have been 

 worked almost continuously since 1770 and the vast 

 amount of rock laid bare affords an excellent 

 opportunity for its study. Here the limestone has 

 blue-grey Silurian strata for its base or foundation, 

 and the total depth or thickness, excluding the top 

 rubble, is a little over 60 feet and is divided as under. 



Permian shales and sandstone 

 Red magnesian limestone . 

 Red sandstone and shales . 

 Massive red limestones . 



Total 



Feet. 



8 



12 



20 



20 



60 



Over the red magnesian limestone are thin 



£ 2 



