NOTES FROM MAYO AND SLIGO. 183 
probably had been bred in some of the remote mountain loughs, 
for the main flock did not arrive in the Estuary until about the 
middle of November. On September 28th I saw near Bartragh 
either a young male or female Scaup Duck. A few Redwings 
appeared about our trees here on October 9th; they were very 
restless, flying about from one wood to another, as if not knowing 
where to settle down; but in the course of a week they settled on 
our hawthorn hedges, and were joined by others later on, so that 
by the end of the month they appeared to have arrived in their 
usual numbers, as if they had quite recruited the losses of 1878. 
Fieldfares were very scarce; they appear, like the Thrushes, to 
be increasing very slowly. 
The weather became very cold and squally by the 20th October, 
the low temperature continuing throughout the week, the mercury 
in thermometer falling to 28° on the night of the 27th, and on the 
following day, when in my punt near Roserk, I was surprised at 
seeing a Wheatear hopping about the stones on the shore; it 
looked quite healthy and lively, not showing any appearance of 
suffering from the cold. 
On the 2nd November I saw a little party of Goiden-crested 
Wrens in one of our hedges, the first seen here since 1878, the 
cold of that winter having apparently cleared them out of this 
district altogether. These birds were probably migrants, it not 
being likely they had bred in the neighbourhood. 
We had quite an invasion of Bullfinches last autumn and 
winter; they were to be seen in almost every hedge throughout 
the district, both on the Mayo and Sligo side of the Moy, and 
although not more than three or four birds could be seen 
together at any time, yet they were generally distributed. This 
migration of such numbers was the more remarkable from the 
fact that I have seldom seen more than three or four birds in a 
season in this neighbourhood. 
The flocks of waders which visited us last winter were much 
smaller than usual; even the Curlews were much under the average, 
and neither Redshanks nor Greenshanks were numerous. Golden 
Plover were very scarce, and I never remember so few Lapwings 
being about the sands, the early frosts having driven them out of 
this locality. There was a fair promise of them at the end of the 
summer, when the flocks began to assemble after the breeding 
season, but they soon shifted their quarters elsewhere. 
