A?i Ornithological Bxploratioii, 147 



tn the little village near the sea we saw Goldfiuches feeding 

 their young in an Apple-tree. The owner said that several 

 nests of Goldfinch had been built the same season in this and 

 the adjoining tree, which are the only apple-trees in this very 

 bare part of the country. A Missel Thrush had her nest in 

 an ash in the same small garden. I have remarked the nests 

 of Chaffinch and Missel Thrush close together, the smaller 

 bird evidently seeking the vicinity of her stronger neighbour 

 to ward off Magpies. 



On June 6th and 7th, we explored Horn Head, a mountain- 

 peninsula, which, the proprietor told us, measured thirteen 

 miles round, rising to a height of five hundred feet. It is one 

 of the largest, if not the largest, breeding-place of sea- fowl in 

 Ireland. We went round the cliff-tops, and I also went round 

 their base in a boat. For miles and miles the great colony 

 continues, the cliffs being thickly populated up to about two 

 hundred feet from the water, the birds becoming above that 

 much fewer. One cannot see them readily at close quarters 

 as on the Saltees, but one gets some magnificent general 

 views as at the Campbell. There is not a great variety of 

 species : Kittiwakes, Razor-bills, Guillemots, and Puffins, form- 

 ing the great majority of the bird-life. There are colonies of 

 Herring Gulls and Cormorants. We did not see a Black- 

 backed Gull of either species, nor did we identify the Common 

 Gull, which is more of a '* lyough Gull," as it is called. We 

 were shown a pair of Peregrines, the female bird proving by 

 her outcries and actions that she had eggs or young. Our 

 guide, who takes young Peregrines, says that three pairs breed 

 at different points of the Head, and the proprietor, Mr. Stewart, 

 can remember when three pairs of Eagles bred round these 

 cliffs (doubtless White-tailed Eagles), and that once four pairs 

 had bred there the same year. The last Eagles bred there as 

 late as 1880, but none have since done so. We were shown two 

 of their breeding sites, in oneof which were the remainsof a nest. 

 We saw Choughs feeding near the Campbell, and flying out 

 of a low cliff near the entrance of Dunfanaghy Harbour, where 

 they breed. They seem to avoid the great precipices tenanted 

 by other birds, but a pair breed annually in a small creek close 

 below inhabited houses. I saw a Raven on the higher cliffs, 

 and a Black Guillemot and Sheldrake at the entrance of the 

 harbour, 



A 4 



