288 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
young birds on the shores here as early as July 6th, but the main 
flocks do not appear before the end of that month. 
Avocet, Recurvirostra avocetta.—Has only once come under my 
notice. On October 28th, 1875, | was returning from Bartragh in my 
punt, with the gun unloaded, when just before reaching the landing- 
place I noticed a pair of birds feeding with some Greenshanks in 
the shallow water ou the sand-bank. ‘They looked so very white 
in the evening light that at first 1 took them to be albino Green- 
shanks ; however, as the boat approached, the Greenshanks went 
off, leaving the other birds still feeding, and when | got closer to 
them I saw they were Avocets. Being very tame they allowed me 
to bring the boat within eight or ten yards of them, from which 
distance 1 watched them feeding for a long time—in fact, until the 
evening light began to fail. Next day 1 saw them resting on the 
shore, but being unable to get a shot, ] asked my friend Captain 
Dover to look out for them when out with his punt-gun. A few 
days afterwards he obtained both birds at a shot, one of which he 
kindly gave to me, and the other he presented to the Royal Dublin 
Society’s Museum. 
Black-tailed Godwit, Limosa melanura.—Rare on this part of 
the coast. A bird in full summer plumage was shot on the tidal 
part of the river near Belleek by Mr. Howley some time in May, 
1863. A solitary bird has occasionally come under my notice in 
winter, but until.last winter ] never obtained a specimen. On the 
6th November last I got a very fine bird in winter plumage, and at 
the same shot bagged thirteen Lapwings, thirteen Redshanks, and 
a Bartailed Godwit. f 
Bartailed Godwit, Limosa rufa.—Common in the bay and 
estuary during winter, but seen in greatest numbers in spring and 
early summer. These birds begin to assemble in large flocks 
about the beginning of March, increasing in numbers all through 
that and the following month,—probably coming from more 
southern haunts,—and although some leave during April, yet large 
flocks remain about the estuary all through May and even up to 
the middle of June, and strange to say, all, with few exceptions, 
exhibiting no trace of the red summer plumage. I saw a flock of 
over one hundred birds near Bartragh on June 11th, 1872, and 
another large Hock on the 14th of that month. In 1873 1 saw 
large flocks on June 17th, all in the pale plumage, and on three 
occasions only have I seen any in the red plumage. On the ]0th 
