DUBLIN UNIVERSITY ZOOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL ASSOCIATION. 51 



Wild duck (Anas hoschas). — Is seen in very large numbers; during 

 winter they do not associate with the widgeon, but keep in large flocks 

 by day at the north side of Bartra, just outside the surf that is always 

 beating on that side of the island ; when the weather is stormy, they lie 

 on the sandy shore. At night they fly inland to the feeding -ground, 

 the various springs and wet bottoms, and at daybreak they may be seen 

 returning in little flocks to their resting-place. They suffered the most 

 of any of the duck tribe during the great frost of 1855, near the village 

 of Ballisokeery ; several were taken by boys when unable to fly, from 

 weakness occasioned by the long-continued frost. I once found two of 

 their nests, containing eight and nine eggs, on a little island in a bog 

 lake, the island was almost covered with nests of the black-headed 

 gull ; but although the ducks and gulls were both hatching, they did 

 not appear to molest each other. 



Gadwall{Anas strepera). — This rare duck I have seen on two occasions : 

 first near Scurmore, on the sands at low water, I saw five feeding, when 

 I made an unsuccessful attempt at shooting them. I saw them again on 

 the 6th of March, 1856, when I shot an adult pair, out of a flock of 

 seven or eight birds, as they were feeding in company of some widgeon 

 on the Moyview strand ; the patch of buff on the tail-coverts of the male, 

 and the peculiar position in which they carried their flat bills, induced 

 me to aim at them rather than at the widgeon, of which two also were 

 killed by the same shot. There was but one other male gadwall in the 

 flock, showing the buff tail-covert. 



Pintail {Anas acuta). — This elegant and graceful duck frequents 

 the river in limited numbers, and associates with the widgeon on their 

 feeding-grounds, where seven or eight adult males may be seen any day 

 during winter or early spring. I shot a very fine pair, male and female, 

 from amongst a flock of widgeon near Bartra last December. 



Common Teal {Anas crecca). — Is seldom seen in any numbers, unless 

 when driven by frost from the bogs and inland waters, but the flocks 

 of fifty or a hundred birds may be seen on the tidal portion of the river, 

 where they remain until the frost disappears; but on the night succeed- 

 ing that event they all, with the exception of a few stragglers, depart 

 for their usual inland haunts. Although of comparative easy approach 

 when inland, it is one of the most difficult birds to shoot when on the 

 sea-shore. 



, Widgeon {Anas Penelope). — In very large numbers frequent the sands 

 of the Moy during winter and spring ; some are seen as early as Sep- 

 tember, but the great body of them do not make their appearance before 

 the middle of October ; they take their departure some time in March, 

 but a few remain until the first or second week in April. . During winter 

 they feed on the zostera, called by the peasantry widgeon-grass, but the 

 supply of that being exhausted early in spring, they then feed chiefly 

 on the laver or sloke, which at that time of the year is exceedingly 

 abundant on all the stony and rocky shores. 



Scaup {Fuligula marila). — I have occasionally seen a few stragglers 

 in winter, and shot a single specimen. 



