1 60 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



Ireland. Mr. Nelligan, of Tralee, has two in his 

 collection, killed in the bay, but they are very rare 

 on the Kerry coast. Sir H. Gore- Booth tells me 

 that a gaggle of Bernicle frequent his grazing fields 

 from November i, the day the cattle are removed. 

 As many as sixteen have been killed by the double 

 discharge of an eight-bore gun by Sir Henry, who 

 knows the species well, and tells me he has seen 

 them breeding in Spitzbergen in August. 



Bernicle are found in the north and north-west 

 of Mayo, particularly in the barony of Erris, an 

 immense tract of bog, marsh, and mountain, thinly 

 populated, bordering on the ocean. They are not, 

 however, nearly so numerous as the Bean Goose, 

 and are comparatively rare in the south of that 

 county. 



Mr. Pike, of Achill, told me that large gaggles of 

 the true Bernicle visited his island home ; few Brent, 

 and now and then Greylag, in very limited numbers. 

 Bernicle are somewhat rare in Donegal, and almost 

 unknown in Belfast Bay. 



Mr. J. Walsh, of Arranmore, co. Donegal, told 

 me that the true Bernicle visits the island in num- 

 bers from October i to April 15. They leave as 

 they come, in large gaggles, and then point north- 

 ward. When they first arrive they are very shy, 

 and frequent the highest parts of the island, thus 

 showing they are not the Brent, so often called 

 Bernicle by the coastmen. These were also de- 

 scribed as having the white face peculiar to the 

 Bernicle. One gunner killed forty in a day during 

 the winter of 1 880-81, and with a shoulder-piece. 

 Such a winter for taming wildfowl was never known. 



