2 The Irish Naturalist. [Jan. 



remarkable eccentricity, which has already been reported to 

 the Zoologist. 



"The island to which I refer was thickly wooded with small 

 firs, oaks, willows, and other trees and shrubs. Round the 

 edges of the wood there was a line of high heather. Wood 

 Pigeons were breeding in considerable numbers in the wood ; 

 but as I was going round the edge of the island I almost 

 stamped on a Wood Pigeon which rose from out of some high 

 heather. Thinking that this was a curious place for the bird 

 to be feeding, I looked down amongst the heather. In the 

 midst of a thick clump of tall heather was a Pigeon's nest, 

 composed of a few sticks placed literally on the ground. The 

 nest contained one Q.%g. This seemed very strange, but I 

 thought it must be an accident. On the other side of the 

 island, however, I flushed another Pigeon in the same way, 

 and found another nest in exactly the same sort of position, 

 but this nest contained quite a big young one. There seems 

 no accounting for this curious fact. The birds must have 

 nested in this position by deliberate intent. Yet there were 

 plenty of good trees for their purpose, where other Pigeons 

 were breeding." 



As regards sea-birds on Lough Corrib — the Black-headed 

 and Lesser Black-backed Gulls I found breeding on several 

 islands, and the Merganser {Merg2is sc7'rato7^ was no doubt 

 nesting, as I saw several pairs but found no'eggs. This bird is 

 locally known on Lough Corrib as the Shield-duck. A number 

 of Dunlin, some of which were singing beautifully, were flying 

 about in small flocks, and the Common Sandpiper was 

 breeding fairly plentifully. A few Cormorants visit the lake 

 every morning and evening to feed. The Wild Duck (A?ias 

 doschas) was breeding fairly numerously, but although I heard 

 various rumours from the fishermen of Widgeon and Pochard 

 I was unable to confirm them. 



Recess, in the centre of Connemara, was my next stopping 

 place. A more barren country for birds I never came across. 

 The scarcity of birds is no doubt due to the scarcity of food. 

 The mountains — the celebrated Twelve Pins — are stony and 

 barren, and can support nothing. The rest of the country is 

 a flat plateau of bog, studded with small lakes. One would 

 expect to find the bog swarming with Snipe, but not a single 

 one could be seen, and I was told that even in the hardest 



