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THE BREEDING BIRDS OF TROUGHS CONN, CARRA, 



AND MAvSK. 



BY ROBERT WARRKN. 

 (A Report laid before the Royal Irish Academy, 28th May, 1894). 



The results of some former visits to Though Conn have 

 enabled me to ascertain that Wild Ducks and Teal breed on 

 some of the islands and shores of the lake ; and the adult 

 Shoveller has been seen, and a flapper shot in Errew bay on the 

 west side of the lough ; and in the summer of 1892, my friend* 

 Mr. H. Scroope, jun., had a nest and twelve eggs sent him 

 from the same part. A colony of Blackheaded Gulls breed on 

 the low gravelly island off Errew Bay, and also some Common 

 Terns : and this summer, Mr. H. Scroope obtained a nest and 

 eggs of the Common Gull off the same island — the first nest 

 that I have known of this gull to have been found on I^ough 

 Conn, the nearest breeding station being on I,ough-na-Crum- 

 pane, a little bog-lake some eight or ten miles away. 



The Common Tern also breeds on the stony shores of some 

 islands nearCloghans, a favourite breeding haunt of Redshanks, 

 Some Dunlins frequent the boggy shore of the southern end 

 of the lake near the Pontoon road ; while Ringed Plovers are 

 seen in many of the sandy bays. 



The Common Sandpiper is to be met on every island, as 

 well as on the shores of the lake, and some pairs of Hooded 

 Crows have nests in the low trees on some of the islands. 



Formerly the Lesser Blackbacked Gull bred in large 

 numbers on islands in the lake, but of late years, although 

 some birds are seen during the summer time, no nests have 

 been discovered. Redbreasted Mergansers also breed on the 

 islands. 



Of the Warblers, only the common species are met — White- 

 throats and Willow Wrens, on the islands, while the Chiff-chaff 

 frequents the woods of Cloghans and others along the shore 

 of the lake. 



Having been informed by Mr. W. H. Good, of Westport, 

 that the Lesser Blackbacked Gull, Common Gull, Common 

 and Arctic Terns bred on Lough Mask, and the Yellow Wagtail 

 on Lough Carra, I was anxious to verify the statement, and 

 on the 1 2th of June, 1893, I left Balliua for Ballinrobe, being 



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