76 The hish Naturalist. September 
On April the 27th, 1899, Mr. Kirkwood saw a solitary 
bird in the stable yard at Bartragh, and secured the speci- 
men for a friend's collection. A few days after he met 
another bird at the same place, but it remained only a few 
days. These were succeeded by a pair seen on the 4th of 
May, picking up insects from a manure heap in the farm 
yard. These birds only remained for a couple of days, 
until they had fed and rested. Some seasons very few 
birds appear, for their presence depends on the weather ; 
their stay on the island also depends on the state of the 
winds ; for instance, in 19 10, they visited Bartragh in 
unusually large numbers, and, owing to long continued 
northerly and north-westerly winds, their flight was delayed 
until a favourable change to the south permitted it. 
The first arrival of their advance guard was led by 
a pair seen on the 5th of May, afterwards single birds 
began to drop in ; on the 8th a flock of five were 
seen, next day more appeared, and on the 12th, a 
flock of 25 birds were seen feeding on their usual haunt. 
Some of them disappeared, but on the 14th, 22 were 
counted feeding on the wet pasture. However, as the 
wind was changing to the south, by the 19th only a 
solitary individual remained on the island. In 1912, 
another rush of birds took place. On April the 25th 
Captain Kirkwood observed a flock of fifteen or sixteen 
that remained on the island for three days, until the gale 
of northerly wind (blowing on their arrival) subsided, and 
changed round to south-west, when they all disappeared. 
The favourite feeding and resting ground of these birds on 
the island, is a damp sandy flat, growing a short coarse 
grass, situated at the back of the garden, and extending from 
the shore of the estuary up to the foot of the sandhills, and 
if any birds are on the island, they are sure to be met on 
or near it. 
It will be seen on the map that Killala Bay opens to the 
north, and is about eight miles across from Kilcummin 
Head, its western boundary, to Lenadoon Point, its eastern 
boundary on the Sligo coast. The bay extends into the 
land for nearly seven miles, when it is met by the island 
