154 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



shop in Limerick, 1 880-81. I have notes of about a 

 dozen in 1878-79-80-81, from Tipperary, Wicklow, 

 Louth, Meath, King's and Queen's Counties. At 

 Castle Coole (Lord Belmore's), co. Monaghan, there 

 are now over a hundred Greylag Geese on the lake 

 in the demesne. They never stray far, and no one 

 knows how many years they have bred and existed on 

 this water. They are the true Greylag, and exactly 

 correspond in measurement and plumage with the 

 wild species. There are, however, in Ireland, to 

 my knowledge, a couple of gaggles of Greylag that 

 visit every season certain localities in numbers. 

 Notably on a lake close to the sea, at the Murrough 

 of Wicklow, where Mr. A. G. More, of Dublin, told 

 me he had seen a hundred together, and that they 

 remain through the summer. Were they in detached 

 parties, they might be suspected of nesting, but they 

 are always herded. They may often be seen resting 

 by day on the grassy meadows close to the high 

 road. The Greylag is easily distinguishable by its 

 size, and, when closely examined, bears a great simi- 

 larity to the domestic bird, a resemblance which, as 

 in the case of wild and tame duck, is sometimes 

 very exact. I n descendants of wild species, the feet 

 and legs are the chief points of difference. No 

 domesticated fowl can run as can a wild one, any 

 more than it can equal the latter in flight. 



Greylags are well known to inland shooters ; their 

 bulk detects them, and they are sometimes alluded 

 to as Swan Geese, but are spoken of as rare, and 

 seldom shot. Fifteen grey geese, described as 

 being large as tame geese, were seen by a keeper 

 near Queenstown. They appeared in January 1881, 



