NOVITATES ZOOLOOICAE XXIV. 1917. 3 



avian rarities collected by me, -will be mounted and in due course be presented 

 to the National Museum, Dublin. 



On examining the body I found strong objective evidence that the bird 

 had struck its head against the lantern, or at all events against some object. 

 For the vault of the skull was deeply indented in the region of the right frontal 

 bone.* This wound was surrounded by a considerable degree of haemorrhage. 

 The lesion I consider was quite suflScient to detain the bird on the rock and 

 to cripple its muscular activities sufficiently to prevent it obtaining food, which 

 consists largely of insects captured on the wing. An examination of the gizzard 

 proved my point to be correct. For, unlike the majority of birds which I have 

 collected after they had been perambulating all day on the rock and on dis- 

 section have found their gizzards to contain a considerable amount of insect 

 food, the gizzard of this Black-eared Wheatear was absolutely empty. This 

 demonstrated conclusively that the bird was too seriously hurt to hunt for 

 food.t 



In connection with this fact it occurred to me that it might be well to wTite 

 to Mr. Glanville and ascertain from him some information regarding the demeanour 

 of the bird during the nine and three-quarter hours of daylight (9.30 a.m. to 7.15 

 p.m.) during which he kept it under observation. In reply he wrote : " I think 

 you must be right about the Black-eared Wheatear having damaged itself by 

 striking, as several times during the day the bird was gathered up with its head 

 under its wing, and its feathers puffed out." Here is strong evidence to show 

 that the bird was not only disabled, but was in a sinking condition^indeed, 

 to find it in broad daylight with its head under its wing indicated that it was 

 seized with more than ordinary sleep from fatigue ; in short, the bird was 

 dying f : hence despatch shortened its miseries and was an act of mercy. In 

 the interests of Irish ornithology it was fortunate that this Wheatear — new to 

 Ireland — fell into Mr. Glanville's hands, as disabled birds are often washed away 

 at high tide, especially when the wind rises and the sea roughens ; are frequently 

 picked off by Merlin Falcons, less often by gulls ; or again they may creep out 

 of sight to die in crevices where they may never be recovered, or at most their 

 fragmentary remains may be all that can be obtained to establish their identity. 

 As it is, a splendid complete specimen has been secured and photographed in 

 the flesh, the body has been thoroughly examined, and a perfect skin has been 

 preserved for the National Museum, Dublin. § 



* See fig. 5, pi. I., and p. 9, for detailed description of the injury to the head. 



t Flies were plentiful. But it is interesting to note that before flies appear, uninjured migrants 

 (land-birds), which alight on the rock, will feed on minute marine crustaceans, vermes, and molluscs. 

 I have proved this by dissecting the gizzards of several species. 



* Many observers, and especially those who possess aviaries, no doubt have noticed how cus- 

 tomary it is for a bird when in the last stages of exhaustion, either from disease, starvation, or injury, 

 to puff out its feathers, and tuck its head imder its wing, and not until, with the last flicker of life, 

 when the bird, becoming too weak to stand, rolls over, is the head withdrawn. 



§ Wounded or not, it was quite right under the circumstances that this new Irish bird was 

 collected by a proper person for scientific purposes. For the student of ornithology who has made 

 a serious study of bird-migration, at rock stations, knows full well how manifold are the dangers 

 which confront the migrant which perforce dares to alight and tarry en route on a marine rock, and 

 how difficult are its chances of reaching its natural habitat. Nay more, should it reach this in safety, 

 its foreign appearance in a land which it has more or less accidentally visited, would unduly attract 

 many of its natural enemies — especially in this particular case where the plumage of the bird in 

 question is markedly showy — to which if it fell a prey its presence i*i Ireland would have remained 

 unknown^ The collection of a rare bird or other creature, whose status is as yet quite unknown. 



