622 The Zoologist — March, 1807. 



Gaelic), and the natives look upon it as quite the " blue riband " of 

 birdsnesting ; he kindly gave me two eggs, which I value highly, as 

 the only thoroughly authentic specimens I possess. I fancy the 

 genuine egg is much rarer in collections than most people imagine, 

 though old oologists tell us of baskets full, and caps full of harrier's 

 eggs, too, in the palmy days of the fens, before Whittlesea and other 

 meres were drained. The corn crake is very abundant, and may be 

 heard the whole evening long. 



Our next expedition was to the south-east end of the island, where 

 a pair or two of the black guillemot breed, but here we were unsucces- 

 ful, and could see nothing of the " gar-brecht," as the natives call this 

 bird. R. shot a fine male chough for preserving, and we returned to 

 skin shearwaters with might and main, for the next morning we were 

 compelled, however unwillingly, to tear ourselves away from this 

 delightful island. Apropos of the chough, which is abundant on the 

 island, I am happy to say that the jackdaw, although very numerous 

 on the mainland, has not yet made his appearance here : the first one 

 that does so will meet with a warm reception, for he will forthwith be 

 added to the collection of Ralhlin birds. I have not thought it 

 necessary to give a list of these, Mr. Gage having already published a 

 very complete summary of both visitants and residents, in the 

 'Proceedings of the Dublin Natural History Society.' 



Late that evening a native came in to say that he had marked two 

 snipe's nests, and at a very early hour on the following morning we 

 started to take them ourselves. One nest contained three eggs, and 

 the other two, but the bird was on the latter, doubtless preparing to 

 lay another egg, when we thus unseasonably disturbed her. This con- 

 cluded our birdsnesting in Rathlin, and after breakfast we took leave of 

 our hospitable entertainer, and recrossed the sound to Ballycastle, 

 whence by car and rail we reached Belfast the same evening. 



T have already mentioned in the pages of the ' Zoologist' the buff- 

 breasted sandpiper and alpine swift, which I saw in the hands of Mr. 

 Sheil ; a visit to the Belfast Museum, and its able curator, Mr. 

 Darragh exhausted the ornithological riches of that locality, and the 

 following evening found us at Comber, whence a walk of four miles 

 (Irish) brought us to Ardmillan, on Strangford Lough, where we trusted 

 to find the redbreasted merganser breeding. On inquiry at a fisher- 

 man's cottage one of his boys informed us that there were plenty of 

 " scale ducks " on the islands of the lough, and that a neighbour's son 

 had taken a nest only the evening before, and put the eggs under a 



