I897-] 273 



NOTES FROM A TRIP TO LAMBAY ISI.AND. 



BY ERNEST BEAKE KNOX. 



On the 8th of August last, at the request of the Royal Zoo- 

 logical Society of Ireland, I left Amiens-street railway station 

 by the morning train, accompanied by Dr. Carton, to get some 

 diving birds for the new tanks in the Gardens. The train 

 rattling past the slob-lands of Clontarf and Malahide gave us 

 glimpses of motley congregations of various wild-fowl, the 

 wary Curlew, with his hoarse guttural cry of alarm, and the 

 timid Black-headed Gull, fresh in its immature plumage from 

 the heather}^ inland bogs, being quite a contrast. 



Arriving at I^usk railway station we were confronted by a 

 number of jarveys each having his own idea of the fare to the 

 village of Rush, about two and a half miles distant, the 

 nearest point from which a boat can be got to go to Lambay 

 Island. Our jarvey, being of a loquacious nature, pointed 

 out objects of interest on the way. Passing Sir Roger Palmer's 

 demesne he informed us that "it cud only be bate for rale 

 beauty by one place in the three kingdoms ; " where that place 

 was he could not remember. A little further on we came to 

 the village of Rush, consisting of a street nearly a mile long 

 lined by cottages, also having a police barrack, national 

 school, coastguard station, cottage hospital, and some shops 

 dispersed at intervals. 



Finding an inn, on inquiry as to what provisions we could 

 get to bring with us, we were rather amazed that no such thing 

 as tinned meat could be got in the village, and had to be 

 content with biscuits, bread and butter, until we got back. A 

 coastguard over from the island, who proved to be a very 

 accurate bird observer, gave us a lot of valuable information 

 regarding the breeding-haunts of its visitors. Having found 

 two boatmen less exorbitant in their prices than the rest, we 

 embarked from the harbour in their yawl. - 



On our passage over, I observed a large number of Razor- 

 bills and Guillemots, either in pairs or as single birds — all very 

 tame. The paired birds, our boatmen informed us, were 

 '* mother and daughter," which, indeed, on close inspection 

 proved to be correct, the adult bird buoyed high in the water 

 with maternal importance, being followed by its small off- 



