THE ANNALS OF IRISH ZOOLOGY. 445 
of the west liberties of Galway.* The water streames, besides 
lampreys, roches, and the like of no value, breed salmons (where 
is recourse to the sea) eels and divers sorts of trouts. There 
was never a pike or bream as yet engendered in all this countrey, 
nor in the adjacent parts of Mayo or Galway counteys. The sea 
here is plentifully stored with fish, as cods, lings, hawktfish, coale- 
fish, turbets, plaises, hadogs, whitings, gurnards, macrells, 
herrings, pilchards, &c.; and no less liberall of shell-fish as 
oysters, scollops, cokles, muscles, razures, together with lobsters, 
crabs, shromps, &c. It now and then casts ashore great whales, 
gramps, porcupisses, thunies. Both sea and land have their 
severall kinds of birds. Here is a kind of black Eagle [Aquila 
chrysaétus}] which kills the deere by grappling him with his 
claws and forcing him to run headlong into precipices. Here 
the Ganet soars high into the sky to espy his prey in the sea 
under him, at which he casts himself headlong into the sea, 
and swallows up whole herrings in a morsell. This bird flys 
through the ships sailes piercing them with his beak. Here is 
the bird engendered by the sea out of timber long lying in sea. 
Some call them ‘clakes’ and soland-geese, some puffins, others 
bernacles, because they resemble them. We call them ‘girrinn.’ 
I omit other ordinary fowl and birds, as bernacles, wild geese, 
swans, cocks of the wood, and woodcocks, choughs, rooks, 
Cornish choughs with red legs and bills, &. Here is fowle that 
custom allowed to eat on fasting days, as Cormorant feeding 
only on fish; as alsoe birds found in the high cliffs and rocks of 
Aran, which never fly but over the sea, which with all other 
numerous sea birds, yield a great store of feathers.” 
* The Editor (J. Hardiman), in a foot-note (p. 10), remarks upon this 
statement, in 1848 :—‘‘ This is not the case at present. The Norway rat every- 
where prevails, having nearly extirpated the little Irish black rat. The 
-latter was the species mentioned by Giraldus Cambrensis in the following 
passage :—‘ Est et aliud ibi (7.e., in insula Aran in occidentali Connactize 
solo posita) notabile ; quia cum per totam Hiberniam copiose nimis mures 
abundent, hee tamen insula mure caret.’” 
(To be continued.) 
