200 The Irish Naturalist. [August, 189S. 



BIRDS, 

 The Stock Dove In County WlckloWi 



It may iuterest your correspondent (Mr. R. M. Miller) and others to 

 learn that in my opinion this bird is evidently increasing its breeding 

 range in this country. Ten years ago there was no Irish specimen in our 

 National Museum, now there are several ; about that time I shot and 

 recorded a specimen obtained in August at Kilcool, County Wicklow; 

 the following year a pair were found breeding at Powerscourt Waterfall. 

 Since then it has become more plentiful, and this 3'ear I can record it 

 as breeding in the following places : — Wicklow Head, Newcastle, Ivough 

 Dan, IvUggala, Powerscourt, and Sugarloaf The nests in every case 

 being either placed in rabbit-holes or cliffs, or in fissures in the rocks. 



Trinity College, Dublin, K. Bi^ake Knox. 



Grouse Disease in Ireiand. 



I would be greatly obliged for specimens, or information that might 

 lead me to obtain specimens, of fresh grouse picked up on the hills, and 

 supposed to have died from the so-called grouse disease, for posi'inortem 

 examination. 



Pathological Laboratory, K. Bi^ake: Knox. 



Trinity College, Dublin. 



The Nigrhtjar In Co. iviayo. 



This bird of the night {Caprimnlgus enropoeus) was heard at Blacksod Bay 

 on loth June and identified. As it is by no means a common bird, its 

 appearance so far west may be worth noting. 



Galway. R. M. Gii,more. 



Iceland Gull In Co. Sligo in Summer. 



On the 18th inst., when driving from Enniscrone to Oghill, about ten 

 miles from the sea, I passed by a field that was being prepared for 

 turnip sowing, and to my great surprise amongst a flock of about twenty 

 immature Herring Gulls, I perceived an Iceland Gull. The bird as 

 usual was very tame, feeding within three or four yards of the man and 

 horses, and as it fed, within about ten yards of the road where I was 

 standing, I had an excellent opportunity of observing it with my 



glass. 



It appeared to be a bird of last year, for although the head and neck 

 was very light coloured, the shoulders and back were rather dark, so 

 probably the bird would not exhibit its creamy stage of plumage until 

 after this autumn's moult. ^The occurrence of the Iceland Gull in summer 

 is very unusual, and the only other occasion on which it has been 

 observed in this country, was on the 5th of June, 1896, when an adult 

 specimen was found dead on the sands of MuUaghmore, by Mr. C. 

 Langham, of Tempo Manor, Co. Fermanagh. 



Moyview, Ballina. ROBERT Warren. 



