1 66 THE FOWLER IN IRELAND. 



them, and there is a prejudice against killing them, 

 they are not followed by the fowlers. Hoopers are 

 now and then seen and shot on Lough Fern and 

 Glen Lough, near Mulroy Bay, county Donegal ; 

 and Bewick's Swan has been killed in the estuary 

 of the Moy, at Ballina. A Hooper was shot at 

 Ahanesk, Cork Harbour, by Mr. Jackson, January 

 28, 1879. Another was killed near Kinsale, Decem- 

 ber, 1 88 1 ; two I shot in Cork Harbour, in January, 

 1879; all being obtained in the same county. I 

 have also notes of eleven Hoopers shot in the 

 south of Ireland in the severe January of 1881. 



Mr. Llewellyn Dillwyn's head keeper (F. Kearns) 

 says that for the last three hard winters he has 

 observed wild swans passing over in numbers to 

 settle upon a lake near Bangor, twenty miles to the 

 west of Mr. Dillwyn's shooting in co. Mayo ; and 

 on the first break-up of the frost he has seen them 

 return eastward again. Only once, in the winter of 

 1878-79, did they alight in his neighbourhood, and 

 then only five stayed for a few days. One shot with 

 a bullet weighed 2ilbs., evidently a Hooper. 



Mr. Warren writes that on the i7th December, 

 1880, a large herd, of from two hundred to two 

 hundred and fifty swans, was seen on Lough 

 Cullen, near Foxford, county Mayo, by Captain 

 Kirkwood, of Bartragh. Swans visit Ireland in 

 great numbers during frost, and even in the mildest 

 winters appear in certain localities. 



The only way to bring down a swan with the 

 shoulder-gun is by aiming at the head ; bearing 

 in mind the pace they fly at is deceptive, and far 

 faster than may be supposed. The immense, slowly- 



