igiZ' '^KRRU^.'^Migratio7i of the White Wagtail. 175 
reached Dr. Harvey so far gone as to be quite unfit to be 
set up as a mounted specimen, or even for keeping as a skin. 
However, he verified my opinion as to its being M. alba. 
Thinking that this bird was a mere stranger and not a 
regular visitant, neither my brother nor I took any thought 
about it, never expecting to see another, and it was not 
until the 29th of April, 1893, that I renewed my acquaintance 
with White W'agtails. I had taken with me in my boat 
two young friends to see the birds on Bartragh, and when 
walking across a damp fiat of pasture, I observed a White 
\\'agtail feeding. Taking my glass to make sure, I pointed 
out the bird to my friends, and at that moment it was joined 
by a companion, but where it had come from I did not 
know. However, taking my gun, and quietly approaching 
within range I fired, and obtained the second M. alba taken 
in Ireland. The specimen is now in the collection of the 
National Museum, Dublin. Before leaving the island, I 
showed the specimen to my young friend the late Mr. A. 
C. Kirkwood, asking him to keep a sharp look-out for any 
other visitors. But it was not until April, 1897, that he 
met a solitary bird feeding near the place where I had shot 
the specimen in 1893. Recognising the bird as a White 
Wagtail, he returned for his gun, but in the meantime, a 
heavy shower of rain had driven the bird to seek shelter, 
and it had disappeared when he came up to the place. How- 
ever, next season, on the 29th of April, 1898, he was more 
successful, when he met five birds feeding in a newly-sown 
oat field, his glass showing that they were White Wagtails. 
This party left the island, but on the loth May, they were 
replaced by a flock of fifteen birds. He saw them resting 
on the slope of a little hillock, but on his approach, rising, 
they fled to the shore among the rocks and stones ; they 
only remained until the afternoon when they all disappeared. 
But on the 19th, they were replaced by five others, on which 
day I had the pleasure of seeing them near the paddock on 
the island. Mr. Kirkwood saw a pair on the 26th and the 
date being so late, he thought they were remaining to breed. 
However, he was mistaken, for, before the ist June, they 
also disappeared. 
