232 The Irish Naturalist. 



The " red bogs" are tracts of countr}^ overlaid by level beds 

 of peat, often covering thousands of acres, which from their 

 barren nature, and the dangers of their swampy portions, are 

 seldom invaded by men or cattle. Here the Curlews lay 

 among the heather, and Black-headed Gulls breed in the 

 wetter and more lonely parts. Such bogs skirt much of 

 the Shannon, as between Athlone and Banagher, the flats 

 along the river being the only green surface visible. These 

 flats, called ''callows," overflowed in winter, yield in summer 

 a rank crop, chiefly of Meadow-sweet, which is annuall}^ 

 meadowed, but before it is cut, affords unlimited breeding- 

 grounds to the numerous RedvShanks that frequent it. 



Some of the larger lakes, especially Lower lyOUgh Erne, 

 are exceedingly beautiful, where adjoining proprietors have 

 preserved along the shores remnants of the natural woods, 

 which clothe the islands with a growth of Oak, Rowan, Ash, 

 Birch, and willows. Here every island is tenanted by its pair 

 of Mergansers, which display their chequered plumage as they 

 dart past, while light terns flit over on their dainty wings, 

 and Tufted Ducks breed in the flags among colonies of gulls, 

 or among the dense rushes on the slopes of the islands. 



Taking the valley of the Shannon, with its chain of lakes, I 

 include the adjoining counties of Connaught, or the eastern 

 portions of them, and the lakes and bogs of Sligo, Leitrim, 

 Fermanagh, Cavan, Longford, Westmeath, King's and Queen's 

 Counties, and Tipperary, but I do not refer to Lough Neagh, 

 to the western lakes of Conn, Mask, and Corrib, nor to the 

 lower Shannon, west of Lough Derg. 



I have made excursions in the end of May and beginning 

 of June for the past three seasons through the above lake- 

 districts. Where I give a list of localities, I refer chiefly to 

 my own observation of the bird at these times, prefixing an 

 asterisk where I obtained proof of its having eggs or young. 



My selection of species depends on my having something 

 special to sa}^ about them in connection with the above parts 

 of Ireland. I do not enumerate birds which, though found 

 about the lakes, are not characteristic of them, being found 

 commonly in counties of a different character ; as the Heron, 

 Moor-hen, Water-rail, and Snipe, but I have given special 

 attention to certain waders, grebes and gulls, as these chiefly 

 breed in the region of the lakes. The Ducks, except the 



