BIRDS AND LIGHTHOUSES. 285 



much more numerous some years ago. They are 

 most difficult to get within shot of. People here 

 drive along the beach, sitting low in small carts, to get 

 near these geese as they feed on the strand weed. 

 But their success is very indifferent at any time. 

 Gannets are abundant here in the summer months ; 

 to watch them diving, and observe their difficulty in 

 rising from smooth water, helps to pass many a 

 dreary hour. The only birds that strike the glass 

 here are Stares (Starlings). This lighthouse is 

 built on piles three miles from land. Now and then 

 a Cormorant alights on the balcony of a dark night. 

 On being discovered, it will precipitately tumble 

 down a distance of thirty feet, and fall on the water 

 as if it were a bag of sand. During the intense 

 cold of January, 1881, the bay was swarming with 

 Blue-billed Wigeon (Scaup), and they became very 

 tame. Dozens would swim round and dive under 

 the lighthouse and among the pillars supporting it. 

 They did not leave on being fired at, or take fright, 

 if the shooter was concealed behind a door or 

 window, and though the fog-bell was ringing they 

 would keep as usual all round (James Healy). 



The Blasquets. 



Though the Great Shearwater has never been 

 found breeding on the Irish coast, it is with good 

 reason believed to do so. It has not unfrequently 

 occurred, and may be seen in a few collections of 

 native birds. Mr. Warren, of Ballina, has seen it 

 more than once. One 23rd of August, several 

 years since, he plainly identified two birds of this 



