i9c>2;-'"' ■ The British Associatiou in Btljast. ?85" 



greatest proportion of the immigrants. In autumn many seem to 

 travel along the coasts of Waterford, Cork, and Kerry, and thus 

 wanderers have reached the Tearaght, as the Black Redstart, the: 

 Yellow-browed Warbler, and the Spotted Crake. This south-westward 

 coasting movement accounts for the surprising number of rare birds 

 that have been taken in the valley of the Cork and Youghal Rail- 

 way, such as the Spotted Eagle, Griffon Vulture, several of the rarer 

 Herons, and the Little Bustard ; while other estuarice valleys in the west 

 of Cork have yielded the Crane, the Stork, and the Spoonbill. Vast 

 numbers of the commoner Passeres (known as " residents") arrive in 

 autumn on our south-eastern shores to pass the winter in the South 

 of Ireland, and Mr. Barrington's painstaking observations show that 

 there^is^a second immigration in spring."^ But those winter migrants 

 that come from the far north arrive chiefly on the coast of Donegal, and 

 pass down the West of Ireland towards Kerry, while some pass to the 

 east coast by the North Channel Among these are the Snow Bunting, 

 Arctic Redpolls, Snowy Owl, Greenland Falcon, Water Rail, Golden 

 Plover, Woodcock, Common Snipe, Glaucous and Iceland Gulls, Northern 

 Diver, and Bernacle Goose. 



The arrival of new species to settle in a country, and the conversion of 

 winter visitants into resident breeding birds, are facts of special interest, 

 of which there have been many instances in Ireland. 



SECTION E.— GEOGRAPHY. 

 THE PEAT-BOGS OF IRELAND. 



BY PROFESSOR T. JOHNSON, D.SC. 



The author gave an account, illustrated by a large map, prepared by 

 the Intelligence and vStatistical Branch of the recently created Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture and Technical Instruction for Ireland, of the distri- 

 bution of the bogs of Ireland, which cover i,86i square miles, chiefly in 

 counties Donegal, Mayo, and Gal way, and have an average depth of 25 

 feet. An account was given of the character of the different layers of a 

 bog as seen in a vertical section, and an explanation suggested of the 

 origin of a bog-slide. Specimens of the bog-flora, of the different kinds 

 of peat, and of the economic products derivable from peat, lent from 

 the Botanical Collections of the National Museum in Dublin, were lent. 



GEOGRAPHICAL PLANT-GROUPS IN THE IRISH FLORA. 



BY R. I.I.OYD PRAEGER. 



Ireland may be roughly likened to a saucer, of which the central de« 

 pression consisted of a plain of Carboniferous limestone, the rim of a 

 discontinuous series of mountain groups, formed of non- calcareous rocks. 

 Much smaller than Great Britain, it displayed less diversity of climate as 



n 



