CATALOGUE OF BIRDS. 57 



of its tail, is a regular winter visitor to the British 

 Islands, and in some parts has, to a small extent, 

 become resident. Ten years ago nests were 

 discovered in Scotland, and it is said to have bred 

 in Ireland. These Ducks, unlike the Wigeon, with 

 which they are fond of associating, go in small 

 parties of from ten to a dozen. They prefer shallow 

 water, and feed, with their heads below the surface, 

 on insects and their larvae, molluscs, and crusta- 

 ceans, and succulent water-plants. 



When staying at Glenbeigh in the winter of 

 1893-4, I heard of a man named Michael Casey, a 

 boat -builder, living at Cremorne, five miles off, who 

 possessed a single-handed punt-gun ; so I sent for 

 him and asked whether he could arrange to go out 

 with me some day. After discussing terms and 

 fixing a day, I started one fine morning, jumping on 

 to an Irish jaunting car with Jack Shea (Mrs. 

 Shea's only son, a fine handsome man of about 40) 

 as my companion. I also took care not to go 

 without plenty of provisions for the inner man, both 

 eatable and drinkable. The latter is most essential 

 when you go out with the Irish, porter being their 

 favourite beverage, of which they can stow away 

 gallons. But they're not at all averse from whiskey, 

 either. Now, since, in addition to Michael Casey, I 

 had two boatmen with an extra boat which was 

 required to follow up and polish off crippled birds, 

 the lunch provided was quite a feature. 



The Pintails you see were on the shores of a 

 wide estuary that runs to Killorglin, and were 



E 



