184 The Irish NaUcralist. 



The road from Ballj^castle to Belderig runs along the coast, 

 not far from the cliffs, through a desert of bog and moor, but 

 half-way between those places is Glenglossera, a small and 

 verj^ picturesque glen, or rather ravine, reaching the sea 

 through a narrow cove in the high cliffs ; at the head of 

 the glen is the pretty shooting lodge of Mr. Mudge, sur- 

 rounded by evergreen shrubs and natural brushwood, the 

 latter clothing the sides of the ravine, and offering such a 

 contrast to the wilderness of bog all round, that it looks like 

 a lovely oasis in the midst of a desert. 



On the cliffs near the mouth of the cove over the sea a pair 

 of Peregrines have an e3^rie. In August, some 3^ears ago, 

 when Grouse-shooting, Mr. Mudge shot two Golden Eagles, 

 an adult bird w^hich he has at his English residence, and an 

 immature specimen w^hich he show^ed me in a case at Glen- 

 glossera. 



Belderig is a small village, consisting of a few cottages 

 thinly scattered over a broad valley or depression of the land, 

 opening out into the little harbour between the cliffs, while 

 bog and mountain surround it inland. 



The sea-cliffs from Belderig to Broadhaven Bay are the 

 finest I have seen on the Irish coast, consisting of a mountain 

 range varying in height from six to eight hundred feet, cul- 

 minating in Benwee Head, 829 feet high. The cliffs are 

 highest on the sea-face, and slope down inland to the level 

 of the great bog, turf covering them to an immense depth. 

 Even on the outer edge of the cliffs it is seven and eight feet 

 deep, and falling with the crumbling face of the cliffs, and 

 lodging where there are vacancies between stones and rocks, 

 forms most convenient nesting-places for the Puffins and 

 other birds. 



This line of coast is indented b}^ great ba3^s, at short distances 

 from each other, and it is chiefly on the high wall-like cliffs 

 of these bays that the sea-fowl breed in such numbers. 



(to bk conci.ude:d). 



