The Birds of the Midland Lakes and Hoos. 237 



apparently still laying on the 4tli June, though this must be 

 exceptionall)^ late, as I saw a young Redshank, of about ten 

 da3\s old, on Lough Gowna on nth June. During my visit to 

 lyord Castletown's marshes, in Queen's Co., on the 14th April, 

 Redshanks, which were exceedingly numerous, were laying, 

 or beginning to hatch. We saw there as many as nine or ten 

 on the wing at a time, and their chorus of piping was in our 

 ears all day. They were similarly numerous along the pre- 

 served shores of Lough Iron at Barronston. These birds, 

 when excited by the invasion of their breeding-ground, per- 

 form a singular antic, rising in the air with violent cries and 

 vibrating wings, and then slanting downwards, with rigid de- 

 pressed wings, they reach the ground like a parachute. I have 

 observed them in May or June on Lough Erne, Lough Arrow, 

 Lough Ke5% Lough Oughter, Lough Sheelin, ^*%ough Gowna, 

 Curry grane Lake, Lough Ree, ^'Glen Lough, Lough Iron, the 

 Shannon, ^''Lough Derg, Lough Annagh, and at *'''Granston. 

 They are reported to breed in Fermanagh, Roscommon, Lei- 

 trim, Cavan, Longford, Westmeath, Meath, Queen's Co., 

 King's Co., and Tipperary, being, for the most part, summer 

 visitants to the lakes ; though Mr. Parker has observed them 

 on Lough Derg in winter. 



The CURI.KW breeds extensively on the great red bogs, on 

 which I have observed it near "^''Clonbrock, in Galway, and in 

 Galwa}'- and Roscommon along the Shannon, Longford, "^'West- 

 meath, and King's Co. It is also reported to breed in 

 Monaghan, Fermanagh, Cavan, Longford, Meath, King's Co., 

 Queen's Co., and Tipperary. Between Banagher and Ath- 

 lone, as I sailed up the Shannon on 4th June, it was the 

 most noticeable bird feeding on the banks, and flying to 

 and from the red bogs on the western side, where, as I was 

 informed, j^oung Curlews had been found on the 20th May. 

 On Crit Bog, near Clonbrock, Co. Galway, on 30th May, 

 Curlews, which evidently had young, came flying up one 

 by one as we advanced, uttering a quavering whistle, quite 

 different from their call-note, and skimming on before, 

 alighted in full view to lure us away. I found a Curlew's 

 nest among the taller heather, with remains of egg-shells. 

 At Athlone I was informed that Curlew's eggs were often 

 found on the bogs in May. Unlike the above waders, the 

 Curlew, so far from forsaking its breeding-haunts in winter, 

 is at that season seen on the bogs in flocks. 



