114 NOTES ON IRISH NATURAL HISTORY. 



other in hardihood : they may be continually seen rooted in 

 the scarcely perceptible clefts of a perpendicular rock, and 

 throwing their fantastic branches over a river bravi^ling at its 

 base. The rock itself is so beautiful, and the streams are 

 fringed with such magnificent Osmmida, that even Killarney 

 would gain but little by a rigid comparison with Glengarriff. 

 The rabbits and hares which swarm in this neighbourhood 

 afford ample entertainment for foxes ; and I am led to believe 

 that these animals are more numerous here than in any other 

 part of the kingdom. Hunting, in a country where the foxes 

 could go to earth at least once in every hundred yards, is out 

 of the question ; and it is consequently held fair to trap and 

 slaughter them by wholesale. Otters abound, and are very 

 destructive to the fish. The golden eagle breeds in Hungry 

 Hill, the Eagle's Nest, and several other hills on the west 

 side of Ban try Bay : hawks are most abundant ; ravens, crows, 

 rooks, jackdaws, and magpies, occur in profusion. Hood- 

 ed crows and choughs are known here, but are not, as in some 

 localities I have mentioned, the most numerous birds of the 

 crow tribe. I did not stay sufficiently long at Glengarriff to 

 make anything like a list of the ferns ; nor did I notice any 

 species that I have not already mentioned as common through- 

 out my journey. 



At Lord Bantry's lodge I was extremely amused with the 

 manifold trophies of defunct stags which are exhibited within 

 and without the dwelling, and also with the singularly wild 

 and picturesque character of his demesne. After wandering 

 about for some time I retumed to the shore, and throwing my 

 knapsack into a boat, I took the helm, and in a few minutes 

 four noble-looking fellows were rowing me down Bantry Bay. 

 I steered first along the western coast, to see the eastern to 

 greater advantage, but the hills are rounded and insignificant; 

 I then crossed to Whiddy Island, a fertile and extremely well 

 cultivated tract, three miles in length, and containing five 

 hundred inhabitants : from this a fine view is obtained of the 

 Caha Hills on the west coast. The sea was, for an Irish sea, 

 extremely calm ; the air perfectly still, and the sky cloudless : 

 there was a rich saffron tint in the air, which seemed to in- 

 vest every object with a kind of golden mantle : it appeared 

 more like what I fancy an Asiatic than an Irish atmosphere. 

 There was that quiet and balmy feel in the air which we call 

 an indication of settled weather : I could scarcely believe that 

 I was in a land where 



" Suns with doubtful gleam 

 AVeep while they rise." 



