1912. Notes. 27 



West Mayo Plants. 



A couple of days spent in the Louisburgli district in the middle of 

 October, though not mainly devoted to botany, resulted in the finding 

 of a few plants which are worth recording. Lough Brawn (pronounced 

 Avrawn) is a little tarn lying at about 1.400 feet at the head of a narrow 

 clilt-walled valley on the north slope of the Sheffry group of mountains. 

 The tarn itself contains nothing but Sparganium affine, but the cliffs 

 above yield a delightful group of alpine plants, and appear to have been 

 overlooked by botanists, escaping even the keen eye of H. C. Hart when 

 engaged on his close examination of the alpine flora of Mayo and Galway. 

 The " Highland " plants occurring here are eleven in number : — Thalic- 

 trum alpinum, Saxifraga stellaris, Sediim Rhodiola, Satissurea alpina, 

 Hieracium angliciim, Oxyria digyna, Salix herbacea, Juniperus nana, 

 Asplenium viride, Aspidium Lonchitis, Selaginella selaginoides. Of these, 

 the only previous Mayo station for ThaJictrum alpinum (which is abundant 

 over L. Brawn) is Croaghpatrick, and for A. Lonchitis the recently 

 published one on Clare Island. With the alpines occurred Rubus saxatilis, 

 Cystopteris jragilis, and Polypodium Phegopteris, and of course plenty of 

 the ubiquitous Saxifraga umbrosa and Hymenophyllum unilaterale. 



Of other plants, Utricularia ochroleuca, hitherto in Ireland recorded 

 only from West Galway, was obtained at Lugaloughan, a couple of miles 

 to the north-east ; Elatine hexandra, unrecorded from West Mayo, was 

 seen in Loughnahaltora to the north-west, and in the slightly brackish 

 Roonah Lough on the coast ; and away to the eastward, beyond Westport, 

 Ulmus montana, also new to West Mayo, grew unquestionably native on 

 the limestone clift' which overhangs the Caves of Aille. 



R. Lloyd Praeger. 

 Dubhn. 



ZOOLOGY. 

 Rare Birds in Ireland. 



An immature specimen of Sabine's Gull was shot on Lough Derg, 3rd 

 October, 191 1. An Avocet was shot near Broadway, Co. Wexford, on the 

 I St November, after a heavy gale from the west. A Great Snipe was shot 

 at Monivea, Co. Galway, by J. M. Meldon, on 5th October, 191 1. 



The second occurrence of Richard's Pipit was noted on 23rd October, 

 191 1, the specimen being caught in a lark net by the same bird-catcher who 

 captured the first specimen taken in Ireland. The second specimen was 

 caught in a field near Kilbarrack Church, on the road to Howth, and 

 was brought to me within an hour of capture. 



A specimen of the Red-necked Phalarope was shot near Broadway, Co. 



Wexford, on loth November, 191 1, Although now breeding in the West of 



Ireland, this species has only in one other occasion been noted in winter, 



viz., 13th November, 1891, 



W. J. Williams. 

 2 Dame Street, Dublin. 



