lyo The Irish Naturalist. September, 



Geological Survey, and no new facts can be reported in this 

 direction, but it is of interest to note the occurrence of a verj- 

 rubbly boulder-clay at several places on the island. Its occur- 

 rence on the low ground covered by bog was noted, but it is 

 only in the cliff sections that anj'thing definite could be seen. 

 On the granite cliffs to the north of East Town fairly con- 

 tinuous runs of a verj^ sand}' boulder-clay from i to \\ feet 

 thick were seen, containing a number of erratics ranging in 

 form from rounded pebbles to angular fragments. Scratched 

 stones turned up in most of the sections, though not in pro- 

 portion to the rest of the material. The most abundant 

 erratic tj^pes were grits and mica-schist; quartzites and 

 granite also occurred. The sections were usuallj^ capped with 

 a thin deposit of peat, which in turn was covered by surface 

 soil. The meagre depth of the island clay as compared with 

 that of the mainland, where it often reaches a depth of forty 

 feet, is, of course, very marked, but it is probable that the 

 contours of the adjacent mainland were not favourable to a 

 large mass of ice working out in the direction of Torj-, and 

 perhaps the outer limit of the ice was being reached, as the 

 boulder-clay has the curious rubbly appearance which also 

 appears in the South of Ireland. 



National Library of Ireland. 



BIRDS. 



BY R. J. USSHRR, M.R.I. A. 



The birds of this part of Donegal are characteristic of the 

 north and west coasts. The Wheatear is one of the commonest 

 land-birds, and the following were often seen— Wren, Pied 

 Wagtail, Rock Pipit, Swallow, Sand Martin (breeding in scarps 

 of the sand-hills), House Sparrow, Twite, Corn Bunting, Yellow 

 Bunting, Skylark, Starling (in small flocks, Rosapenna), Rook, 

 Rock Dove, Corn-crake (heard even on Tory Island), Coot 

 (on Rosapenna Lake), Heron. 



There was a general absence of Thrushes, Warblers, Tits, 

 and Finches. One Magpie was seen towards Glen Lough. 

 We met with no Choughs, not even on Tory Island, but we 

 were told that three pairs of Ravens have nested there this 

 year. Ravens formerly nested there so numerously that my 

 informant stated he had counted thirt3'-six when the young 

 broods were going about, but they killed so many chickens that 

 the islanders shot them. 



