5 8 The Irish Naturalist. March, 



considerable irruptions have taken place from time to time. 1 

 According to Mr. Ussher there are one hundred and six 

 records from Ireland. They are distributed as follows : — 



Kerry, 6. Wexford, 3. Fermanagh, 1. 



Cork, 6. Wicklow, 1. Monaghan, 2. 



Waterford, 5. Dublin, 20. Down, 20. 



Tipperary, 4 Westmeath, 1. Antrim, 11. 



Kilkenny, 1. Galway, 6. Londonderry, 4. 



Carlow, 2. Mayo, 5. Donegal, 8. 



Most records have been made from Down and Dublin. The 

 latter locality is the scene of my own observations. Dublin 

 Bay has been visited by the Grey Phalarope on several 

 occasions. My friend, Mr. A. Williams, writes to me as 

 follows : — " I as yet have only met with the Grey Phalarope 

 on one occasion in the Bay of Dublin. I was out boating 

 early on a foggy morning in the month of September, 1877. 

 As I reached the end of Clontarf Island I was surprised at the 

 appearance of what I first took to be a very small sea-gull, 

 swimming actively about and picking in the water all round. 

 The bird appeared very buoyant on the water, with head erect, 

 and tail and wings very much pointed up behind. The move- 

 ments resembled those of a Black-headed Gull. It was quite 

 silent, and allowed me to approach within a few yards of it. 

 I then knew it to be a Grey Phalarope. Finally it took wing, 

 and disappeared in the fog." 



The late Dr. Cox shot one on the North Bull, Dollymount, 

 on the 9th September, 1879. He considered it the only one 

 obtained in the neighbourhood for many years. 2 The details 

 of most of the other records of the occurrence of the Phalarope 

 from Dublin coast and its vicinities are to be found in the late 

 Mr. Thompson's work on the birds of Ireland. The whole 

 may be briefly tabulated as follows : — 



1 Vide— Thompson : "Nat. Hist, of Ireland," vol. ii.,p. 336-343 ; also 

 Ussher : " Birds of Ireland," p. 267, and Barrington : " Migration of Birds, 

 Analysis of Reports," p. 203. 



" Zoologist ', 1879, p. 480. 



