174 \7he Irish Naturalist. September, 
SOME NOTES ON THE MIGRATION OF THE 
WHITE WAGTAIL ON THE ISLAND OF 
BARTRAGH, KILLALA BAY. 
BY ROBERT WARREN. 
Up to the time of the pubhcation of Wm. Thompson's 
" Birds of Ireland," there is no authentic record of the 
capture of this bird {Motacilla alba) in Ireland. All 
Thompson knew was from a letter received from his friend 
the late Mr. R. Ball of Dublin, stating that a few days 
before, at Roundwood, he had seen a specimen of the true 
M. alba, as distinguished from M. Yanellii ; this is all 
the meagre information at that time in Thompson's posses- 
sion. 
Regarding the regular visits of this bird on its northern 
movement to Bartragh, there can be no doubt of its regular 
line of flight northwards across that island, in proof of which 
we have the facts of its yearly visits from 1897 up to and 
including this present year 1913, when on the 24th of April, 
my friend Captain Kirkwood observed four birds on the 
island, and on the 28th he saw several others. 
I first met this bird on the 25th April, 1851, on the island 
of Bartragh, feeding after the harrows of a man sowing oats. 
My attention was first attracted by its quiet movements, 
as it walked after the harrows, so different from the quick 
jerky, fussy action of the Pied Wagtail when feeding ; 
also its very white cheeks, and light grey back, showed 
me it was a stranger, and it suddenly occurred to me that 
it was the rare Motacilla alba, so changing the shot in my 
gun for No. 8, I waited until the bird came round again 
after the harrows, when I knocked over the first specimen 
of Motacilla alba known to have been shot in Ireland. 
The very white cheeks and light grey back at once 
identified it by the woodcut in Yarrell's " British Birds," 
that I had seen two years before in Belfast. I at once 
sent on the specimen (by post), to my old and valued 
friend the late Dr. J. R. Harvey, of Cork, for his fine collec- 
tion of Irish birds, but very unfortunately, it was so long 
delayed in transmission through the post office that it 
