I902. The British Association in Belfast. 2.85 



But the richer fauna of the Continental caves must probably be, in part 

 at least, due to modification. It would appear that the origin of cave - 

 faunas is a more complex question than is usually imagined. 



The President and Professor Poui,ton, in commenting on this 

 paper, both expressed doubt as to the validity of the explanation given 

 by the author. 



THE AVIFAUNA OF IRELAND AS AFFECTED BY ITS 



GEOGRAPHY. 



BY R. J. USSHER. 



The position of Ireland in the British Archipelago tends to leave its 

 avifauna less disturbed by change: the configuration of the country, too 

 helps to preserve its bird population, for the maritime counties, espe- 

 cially those of the west, are nearly all mountainous, while much of the 

 interior abounds in lakes, and more than three-fourths of the area of 

 the island are either under grass or unreclaimed moor. There are no 

 large mining nor manufacturing districts outside the towns, and the 

 rural population is small ; moreover, birds are not persecuted much in 

 Ireland except in pursuit of game, and Irish peasant boys are not keen 

 about bird-nesting Accordingly many species hold their own undis- 

 turbed in Ireland, and have a wide breeding range here, which compares 

 favourably with their status in England, as the Stonechat, Dipper, 

 Golden-crested Wren, Grej' Wagtail, Rock Pipit, Goldfinch, Siskin, 

 Twite, Lesser Redpoll, Corn Bunting, Chough, Magpie, Hooded Crow, 

 Peregrine Falcon, Cormorant, Shag, Heron, Sheld-Duck, Red-breasted 

 Merganser, Rock Dove, Water Rail, Golden Plover, Oyster-catcher, 

 Woodcock, Common Snipe, Dunlin, Common Sandpiper, Common Red- 

 shank, Curlew, Arctic Tern, Little Tern, Black-headed Gull, Common 

 Gull, Herring Gull, Great Black-backed Gull, Kittiwake, Razorbill, Black 

 Guillemot, Guillemot, Pufiin, Storm Petrel and Manx Shearwater. The 

 Gannethas two large colonies in the south-west, and the Sandwich Tern 

 has two breeding places. Of rarer birds that still breed in the island 

 may be enumerated the Raven, Golden Eagle, Marsh Harrier, Hen 

 Harrier, and Leach's Fork-tailed Petrel. Among the winter visitors, too, 

 are many wildfowl, swans, geese, and ducks of both groups, which re- 

 sort to the estuaries of the north and west, to some of the desolate moors, 

 and to lakes and islands in prodigious numbers. Limicolae, such as 

 the Turnstone, Purple Sandpiper, Sanderling, Greenshank, and Bar- 

 tailed Godwit, linger on into May, or even through the summer in the 

 north-west, and the same may be said of the Great Northern Diver. 



But, though certain species are rich in individuals, others, characteristic 

 of certain parts of Great Britain, are not known to exist here at all: — 

 Nightingale, Dartford Warbler, Reed Warbler, Marsh Warbler, Bearded 

 Titmouse, Crested Titmouse, Nuthatch, Tree Pipit, Cirl Bunting, Tawny 

 Owl, Capercaillie, Black Grouse, Ptarmigan, and Red-legged Partridge. 

 With the exception of tlie Capercaillie, there is no reason to believe 



