898.] 121 



THE LONG-TAIIvKD DUCK IN KILLAI.A BAY AND 

 THE ESTUARY OF THE MOY. 



BY ROBERT WARREN. 



The late William Thomson in his "Natural History of 

 Ireland " considers this beautiful duck {Harelda glacialis, I^.), 

 " an occasional — probably a regular — winter visitor to the 

 coast of Ireland in very limited numbers," and notes eleven 

 specimens having been obtained in Belfast Eough at various 

 times, between the years 1824 and 1848, and one at Killyleagh 

 on Strangford lyOUgh, in November of the former year. He 

 also mentions six specimens obtained on the Dublin coast at 

 different times up to 1848; two in Wexford in 1834, ^^^ at 

 Lurgan Green, Co. I^outh, in 1836, another at Galway, and 

 three shot by the late Mr. R. J. Montgomery in Drogheda 

 Bay, in the winter of 1848-9. The above was all that was 

 known of this species as a visitor to the Irish Coast, up to 

 1 85 1, the date of publication of Thomson's third volume. 



To Killala Bay, this duck is an irregular winter visitor — 

 some seasons appearing in October, and occasionally remain- 

 ing until the first or second week in May, and during its stay, 

 occasionally visiting the estuary and tidal parts of the river. 



I first met this beautiful duck on the 26th of March, 1851, in 

 the channel near Bartragh, when my attention was attracted 

 by the wild, musical calls of the birds, so totally unlike those 

 of any duck I had ever heard before, and when my brother 

 and I got out our boat, and rowed to where we had heard the 

 peculiar calls, we saw a lovely pair (male and female) diving 

 in the channel, and we thought at the time the adult male 

 was one of the loveliest ducks we had ever seen. We saw 

 them again on the 6th and 9th of May, near the same place, 

 but on neither occasion were we able to shoot them, although 

 we repeatedly tried to approach within shot. These birds 

 shortly after left the river for the season, and until the 1 2th of 

 the following December I did not observe any, but on that 

 day I saw a flock of eleven birds in the channel near Killala, 

 at the western end of the island of Bartragh, and strange to 

 say, the greater number from their light-coloured plumage 

 appeared to be males. They were very lively and noisy, 

 playing about, and taking short flights after diving, always 



