126 The Irish Nahiralist. July, 



Wrens did come along I managed to secure four, one on the 

 night of the 13th of April, and three during the next night. 

 None of these birds struck in the strict sense of the word. 

 They came to the lantern glass as softly as would a moth ; 

 indeed a Cockchafer attracts far more attention than a 

 Wren when it comes in contact with the glass. ■• 



Now the evidence afforded by the presence of a limited 

 number of WYens at the lantern of a tall tower, such as 

 the Tuskar, which rises up from a rock almost on the 

 sea level, is little or no criterion of the numbers actually 

 on migration. Far greater numbers of this species fre- 

 quented the rock in the intervening daytime than ever 

 were seen round the lantern at night, thereby affording 

 evidence that the flight of the Wren during migration is 

 relatively low, and so the lantern is avoided. This is very 

 much strengthened by the fact that those Wrens which 

 appeared at the lantern came flying almost perpendicularly 

 up from below, ascending to the glass through the spaces 

 between the balcony railings. I was much interested 

 watching large numbers of Wrens as they crept in and out 

 among the rock crevices during the da3^time of April 14th 

 and 15th, and in small numbers on April i6th. I collected 

 six, and could have had more were they needed. The birds 

 had evidentty come some distance ; they were tired, very 

 tamiC, and moved about with their feathers puffed out, a 

 sign in birds of incipient exhaustion from hunger. Of 

 course, there is no doubt that any land-bird which appears 

 on the Tuskar rock, is making a passage. At high water 

 the weather need not assume a marked tempestuous state for 

 the rock to become for the major part wave-swept, and I 

 doubt if there is suitable food, even in fine w^eather, for 

 insect-feeding birds to sustain hfe for a longer period than 

 a few days , while fresh water is not available, this precious 

 commodity being carefully conserved for human use. Hence 

 it is that small birds never remam long on the rock, but 

 the Tuskar is an excellent observatory for recording the 

 fleeting visits of migrants made during the daytime. 



^ I wish to thank Mr. Glanville, Principal Keeper, and Mr. Power, 

 Assistant, for ready help in securing me specimens during their hours 

 on watch. 



