5? The Irish Naturalist, March, 



me, fouud a Black-headed Gull's nest with one ^%'g. The nest was little 

 bigger than one of the Common Terns near by, but was in the centre, 

 not at the edge of the bank. The pair of gulls were seen frequenting 

 the bank, so I think it was a genuine case of a pair nesting amongst the 

 Terns. The wet spring of 1907 worked sad havoc among the nests on 

 this Inch sandbank. The entire bank was flooded, and the nests w^ere 

 covered with three to six inches of water. In some places many eggs 

 were washed into the sandy hollows, and twenty or thirt}- could be picked 

 up at once: At one end of the bank a pair of Mute vSwaus had made 

 their nest, and as the flood rose they built up their nest higher and 

 higher. A kindly gentleman fishing near by gathered a great armful of 

 coarse grass and wrack and laid it beside the nest, and this they used to 

 keep out the rising flood. A few fine days intervened and the water fell, 

 leaving the bank fairly dry. 



At once the terns set to and built again, this time further from the 

 water's edge, and laid their eggs. The nests were larger and more com- 

 pactly built than before. But, alas ! the wet weather again set in, the 

 flood rose and the homes of the poor terns and Ringed Plovers were 

 again swamped and ruined beyond repair. The swans did their best 

 but at last they, too, had to give up in despair. 



The Quail has visited this district during the past two summers. In 

 September, 1906, Mr. R. H. Smyth shot an adult at Raphoe. In October, 

 1906, among the call notes of the migrants passing over our city at night. 

 I heard calls on two nights, which were quite new to me, croaking 

 guttural notes. I could not make them out, but at last discovered that 

 they proceeded from Manx vShearwateis, for one of these birds alighted 

 on one of the nights in question in the yard of a shop in town, and was 

 brought to Mr. E. McCourt, who kept it alive for some time. It emitted 

 the same guttural call notes at night. Some years ago a Manx Shear- 

 water was brought to me, which had alighted in a yard in Derry, on a 

 night in September, or early in October. I cannot understand why 

 shearwaters should fly over our city in numbers in autumn. 



D. C. CampbeIvI/. 



Londonderry 



Short eared Owls. 



T wonder if any readers noticed the abundance of owls last autumn. 

 Short-eared Owls were especially numerous, in fact I saw more last 

 November than I ever saw before in my life. Up to i6th November I 

 had observed seven c>n different occasions, but on Monday. i8th Novem- 

 ber, while shooting over a piece of ground of about half an acre, I rose 

 seventeen vShort-eared Owls ; they rose in pairs, or singly, out of the 

 withered bracken and sometimes six or eight would be on the wing at 

 one time. As the day was bright they were probabl}- dazzled, as they 

 flew past very close to me and lit again not far off. I could have shot 

 several of them with the greatest ease had I wanted to, but I prefer to 

 see these beautiful birds flying about to seeing them in a glass case. 



