1904- USSHER. — Birds met with in the Shanytoji Valley. 105 



The stately round towers and ruined churches of Clonmac' 

 noise overlook the great water-way and its wilderness of turf 

 bogs, and here was seen a Corn-Bunting, a bird not often 

 met with in the interior of Ireland, though in the maritime 

 counties it is common enough. Near Athlone a I^esser Black- 

 backed Gull was on the river ; it is partial to the vicinity of 

 river towns on account of the offal to be got there. 



At Glynwood, on the Westmeath side of Athlone, is pre- 

 served a fine Greenland Falcon, which the butler took alive 

 with a hand-net, when it was quite fatigued, at Glenmore in 

 Co. Donegal. It lived in confinement for about five years. 



lyough Ree, the second largest of the Shannon lakes, is 

 broader than Lough Derg in its lower half, and its deep bays 

 contain extensive reed beds, which are inhabited by great 

 numbers of Coots. I found that the nests of these birds had 

 been flooded by a rise in the waters of the Shannon, and 

 some of them had since been raised with fresh materials, and 

 fresh eggs laid above those that had been swamped. 



lyough Ree is a special resort of the Great Crested Grebe, 

 whose croak, coming across the waters, attracts attention to 

 its tall white throat, surmounted by its tippeted head. One 

 little lagoon that I visited contained more than one nest of 

 this bird with newly-laid eggs. The nests are not usually 

 made until June, when the rushes are grown sufficiently to 

 conceal them ; these structures are low platforms of rotten 

 rushes, but little above the water, and sometimes have pond 

 mud upon them. I never saw so many nests of I^ittle Grebe 

 as on Lough Ree ; they were floating lumps of aquatic 

 herbagC; which contained uncompleted clutches on 7th June ; 

 but in a lagoon the nestlings had just emerged, and on our 

 approach one of these immediately took to the water and 

 dived, using legs and wings for a short distance, and on 

 emerging dived again and again. 



On some small sedgy islands, and on a lonely shore, I 

 found nests of Tufted Duck with fresh eggs. These birds, 

 of which several pairs were seen, were looked upon as a new 

 breeding species in 1892, but the young of the Shoveler had 

 been previously obtained when flapper-shooting. 



The Black Islands, in an unfrequented portion of the lake, 

 belong to Co. Longford. These were formerly resorted to for 

 illicit distillation ; they are now haunted in the breeding 



