Irish Ornithology. 409 



the loud purr of the Goatsucker (Caprimulgus europaus). On 

 the second night we tried from 12 to 1 without success; it 

 was not quite so cold, but the sky was clear and the moon 

 brighter than ever. Sixty miles to the south-east there is a 

 great colony of the Manx Shearwater, breeding on Skomer, 

 off the coast of Pembrokeshire (Barrington, Zoologist, 1888, 

 p. 367). 



The most noisy bird on the island is the Oyster-catcher 

 (Hamatbpus ostralegus) , which was continually pursuing us 

 with loud anxious cries, and I am afraid not without some 

 reason. We took one clutch of four eggs, and several 

 clutches of three were brought in to us by the farm-labourers. 

 There must have been a score or two of these birds on the 

 island, frequently half a dozen could be seen on the rocks 

 from one spot. They breed among the rocks on the high 

 part of the island, on the short grass halfway down, and on 

 the shingle by the sea on the low side of the island. A clutch 

 of four fresh eggs of the Peewit ( Vanellus vulgaris) was found 

 by one of the labourers, and we frequently heard the cries of 

 the birds. 



A pair of Peregrines (Falco peregrinus) breed on the island, 

 and we saw one of them, but we had not time to look for 

 their eyrie. Mr. Ussher picked up some bones of a hedge- 

 hog which had probably been eaten by the Peregrines, and 

 remembered having found similar bones on a previous visit. 

 The hedgehogs probably live on the island, which seems to 

 have been part of the mainland after the Glacial Epoch, 

 otherwise it is difficult to account for the great deposit of 

 boulder-clay, which has probably been since washed away 

 by the waves, except where the granite foundation upon 

 which it rests is above the sea-level. 



Twice we saw small parties of Sheldrake (Tadorna cornuta) 

 fly across the island. They may breed in some of the rabbit- 

 burrows on the island, or in the sand-hills on the opposite 

 coast of the mainland. 



We not unfrequently saw Rock Doves (Columba livia) fly 

 out of the caves on the steep side of the island. 



The Saltee Islands are visited by many species of Passerine 



