68 The Irish Naturalist. 



islands and circled round us, keeping up a continual shrieking 

 that was almost deafening. On landing, we found great 

 quantities of Terns' eggs, spotted with dark brown and 

 black, lying in twos and threes in slightly- formed hollows in 

 the grass, seaweed, or pebbles (Pi,ATK 3.)- "^^^ seaweed fringe 

 which marked last spring tides seemed an especially favoured 

 place. From among the hundreds of eggs of both Arctic and 

 Common Terns {S. macrura and 6". fiuviatilis) which lay scat- 

 tered over the ground, we selected a few for our cabinets, and 

 then beat the tall groves of Alexanders f Smyr?iiumJ with 

 which the islands were covered, drenched with recent showers, 

 in the hope of getting Mergansers', but without result. A 

 tremendous shower now came on, which no waterproofs could 

 keep out, and which left us and our food pretty well soaked. 

 But we searched through it all, and found two clutches of 

 Ringed Plovers' f^gialitis hiaticula) . The nest and eggs of 

 the Ringed Plover, or " Dotterel" as it is called in the north of 

 Ireland, are as pretty as the birds themselves. The nest con- 

 sists simply of a neatly formed hollow in the dry shingle, often 

 containing a few bright yellow shells (Littori7ia obtusata), laid 

 there perhaps to draw attention away from the eggs. These 

 latter are buff-coloured, speckled with black, and as they lie 

 in the nest with the four pointed ends neatly set together, the 

 general effect is very pleasing. 



Salt Island was searched in vain, and we sailed on to Gab- 

 bock Island, near which we had a very narrow escape from 

 being upset. During a momentary lull in the westerly wind 

 which prevailed all day, a most extraordinary little puff came 

 from the eastward, without the slightest warning, causing the 

 boat to suddenly heel over, and one of our party found himself 

 unexpectedly vsitting in the sea ; but the good management of 

 our boatman saved us from a capsize, and after a hearty laugh 

 at the expense of the wet and unfortunate third, we safely 

 reached Gabbock. Here we camped and had lunch ; the 

 stony shores of the island 3delded more nests of Terns and 

 Ringed Plovers. We sailed on to I^ong and lyittle Sheelah, 

 which are in close proximity. And here the Terns' eggs were 

 a sight ! We had to pick our way among them most carefully, 

 or we would frequently have tramped on them. They lay 

 scattered in the utmost profusion over shingle, grass, and the 

 flotsam and jetsam that fringed high- water mark, as if they 



