174 *J^he Irish Naturalist. [July, 



We then saw them walk to the top of the ridge, when 

 James Darling whistled, and waving his hat to us, disappeared 

 over the ridge. Not seeing him return we concluded that he 

 had found the lough, so we hastened after him, and on 

 reaching the top, we saw to our great delight, in a hollow 

 about half a mile off, the long-sought for lough easily identi- 

 fied by the tree stumps studding its surface ; a number of gulls 

 were flying over our friend, who was wading out through the 

 muddy water to where the nests were. On reaching the lough 

 we soon had eight pairs of Larus caniis flying over us, and saw 

 eight nests composed of dried grass on the tree stumps ; 

 James Darling visited seven of these, six contained eggs ; the 

 eighth he was unable to reach, in consequence of the great 

 depth of the black mud on the bottom of the lough. 



The foregoing was all the information I had of the breeding 

 of this gull in Sligo and Mayo, until June, 1890, when my 

 friend, Mr. R. J. Ussher, on his way from Belmullet to Ballina, 

 found a large colony of at least fifty pairs breeding on an 

 island in lyough Dohybaun, near Corick, in the last named 

 county. Since then I have met them breeding on lyoughs Conn 

 and CuUen, where they had not been seen until a few years 

 ago. On lyough Conn some odd pairs breed on the stony 

 points of the small islands at the upper end of the lake, near 

 Knniscoe and Krrew abbey, and are probably scattered all about 

 the lake, for I met them also on the lower end, near Pontoon 

 Bridge ; and in lyOUgh Cullen they are scattered about also, 

 while there is a colony of twelve to fifteen pairs on the shores 

 of a small island close to the land, between Garrison Island 

 and the bridge. I have also found the Common Gull breeding 

 on the shores of islands in Lough Mask, but not so numerous 

 as in Lough Cullen. 



There is no doubt that these Gulls are extending their 

 breeding-range in this district, more especially to Lough 

 Conn, where fifteen or twenty 3^ears ago none were to be seen, 

 when I used to visit the lake in search of breeding birds, and 

 particularly during my close search for the Sandwich Terns, 

 at which time only Blackheaded Gulls, and Common Terns 

 bred about the lake. This gull, during the breeding season, 

 appears to have been more widely distributed throughout the 

 north-west counties than was expected, previous to the visits 

 of my friend Mr. R. J. Ussher, who found them in pairs and 



