174 The Irish Nahiralist. 



The main interest of the birds of Lough Swilly centres in 

 the winter visitors. The lough bifurcates into various inlets, 

 which are from fifteen to twenty miles from the open sea. 

 These abound in shallows, furnishing the food and shelter so 

 attractive to wild-fowl in wintr}^ weather. One of these inlets 

 is a special wild-fowl resort. The island of Inch is situated 

 about fifteen miles from the mouth of the lough. On its west 

 side it is bounded by rapidly-deepening water. On its other 

 sides the water was very shallow. Some forty years ago two 

 embankments were constructed connecting Inch with the 

 mainland. The north and west sides of the island are now sur- 

 rounded by the sea ; the south and east sides are bounded by 

 shallow water cut off by the embankments. The portion of 

 water so cut off, I speak of in this paper as "the inland water." 

 It is really a sheltered shallow lake of brackish water, several 

 hundred acres in extent, and abounding with every sort of 

 food in which wild-fowl delight. In severe weather flight- 

 shooting can be successfully practised between the inland 

 water and the sea, and it was while engaged in flight-shooting 

 that mo rt of my observations were made. 



Anser ciiiereus, Meyer. — Grey Lag-Goose. — This goose is rare. In 

 the winter 188S-89 a flock of nine or ten geese stayed on the Inch 

 water for some weeks. From a scrutin}- with a field glass, I judged 

 them to be Grey Lags, and one shot by a local fowler weighed 11 lbs. 



A. albifrons, Scop. — White-fronted Goose. — From thirty to forty 

 of these geese stay each winter on the Inch water. They arrive 

 in November, and do not leave till May. I noticed them as late as 

 May 19th in 1891. This year they left about May ist ; but I noticed a 

 single bird near Buncrana on May 25th. 



Bernicla leucopsis, Bechst. — Bernici^e Goose. — Rather rare in Lough 

 Swilly. One was shot during the past winter (1891-92) by a Derry 

 gentleman, who has had it preserved. 



B. brenta. Pall. — Brent Goose. — Extremely plentiful in Lough Swilly. 

 Plocks which cover several acres of water may frequently be seen 

 seen between Inch and the mouth of the river Lennan. They arrive 

 about the end of September, and leave about the beginning of March. 

 They seldom visit the inland water, and very few of them fall to the 

 gun of the flight-shooter. 



Cygrnus musicus, Bechst. — Wir^D Swan or Whooper. — Five swans 

 visited the inland water in the winter of 1889, which I judged, from 

 their size, to be Whoopers. One of them, shot by a local fowler, 

 weighed over 16 lbs. 



C. bewicki, Yarrell. — Bewick's vSwan. — This swan visits the Inch water 

 ever}' season. In the winter of 1890-91 they were unusually numerous. 

 I shot two, one of which I had preserved, and I might have shot several 

 others. On one occasion I counted forty on the inland water. During 

 this w-inter, swans were plentiful on all the Donegal lakes. 



Tadorna cornuta, G. S. Gmel.— Common SHEiyDR.\KE. — At least one 

 pair breed at Inch each season, A pair bred this year on the golf-links 

 at Lisfannon, halfway between Fahan and Buncrana. I did not seek 

 to discover their nest, as I feared that if I inadvertantly drew the 

 attention of the "caddies" to its existence, its non-existence would 

 soon follow. I observed the male bird almost daily, while the female 

 was sitting, and saw the j-oung birds afterwards with their parents. I 

 have been told by an old resident at Inch that before the embank- 

 ments were made Sheldrake bred freely on the face of a hill near the 

 present railway station. 



