1 66 Guide to Belfast, 



very common, and breeds in large numbers on Rathlin 

 and the Gobbins. S. M. Stears has taken the eggs in 

 Strangford Lough; and in July 1901 Nevin Foster and 

 I discovered the first ifila?id breeding-place in Ireland, on 

 one of the Antrim hills. The *Lesser Black-backed Gull 

 is resident, but nowhere numerous; it breeds among the 

 Antrim hills and on Rathlin, and is sometimes seen on 

 Lough Neagh, where it used to breed. The Great Black- 

 backed Gull is met with in small numbers, usually in 

 autumn and winter, and does not breed in the district ; 

 it rarely comes inland, but has been shot on Lough Neagh. 

 The Glaucous Gull and Iceland Gull are both rare winter 

 visitors, the former being more often obtained, having 

 occurred about a dozen tines. Rathlin Island is the only 

 place in the district where the *Kittiwake Gull breeds. 

 It has an immense colony there, and immature birds are 

 common all round the coast in the summer. Thompson 

 records six Great Skuas in Belfast Lough — three shot and 

 three seen — in 1848, but it has never been recorded since. 

 The Pomatorhine Skua is an autumn visitor in small 

 numbers, chiefly immature birds. It is not very uncommon 

 on Rathlin in winter. Richardson's Skua is rather more 

 frequent, and adult birds have frequently been obtained in 

 autumn. Summer occurrences are rare, but two were shot 

 in Belfast Lough, i June, 1863. Buffon's Skua occurs 

 irregularly in autumn in small numbers : one was obtained 

 in May 1892 in a bog near Ballymoney, boih date and 

 place being most unusual. 



Alcse. — ^Razorbills and ^Guillemots breed in countless 

 numbers on Rathlin Island, and are very common in our 

 loughs in summer. In winter they are not often seen. 

 Rarely found inland, H. D. M. Barton has recorded the 

 Razorbill from Lough Neagh. The extinct Great Auk can 

 only be included in our list through the discovery by W. J. 

 Knowles, of Ballymena, of a number of its bones in the 

 kitchen-middens of Whitepark Bay, Co. Antrim. Full 

 particulars will be found in the Froceedings of the Royal 

 Irish Academy, 3rd Series, vol. i. No. 5, p. 625; vol. iii, 

 No. 4, p. 654 ; vol. vi. No. 3, p. 336. It would seem as if 

 <jreat Auks must have been easily procurable by pre-historic 



