NOTES FROM MAYO AND SLIGO. 371 



shores, and I do not remember meeting with either Turnstones 

 or Godwits throughout the winter. An odd Sanderling or two, 

 and a few Dunlins, but no Knots, were to be seen on the sands. 

 Late in spring a score of Godwits were seen near Bartragh. 

 It is very difficult to account for this great scarcity of wildfowl. 

 Some say it was caused by the comparatively open winter, which 

 was not sufficiently severe to drive them from more northerly 

 feeding-grounds; but this I doubt, for I have often seen an 

 average number of wildfowl of all kinds frequenting the bay and 

 estuary during winters so mild and wet that nothing severer than 

 hoar frost occurred throughout the season. 



On the 14th November, when lying in my punt near the 

 islands of Roserk, I heard the call of a Spotted Redshank, and 

 saw the bird flying near the shore of the island, where I shot 

 one of these birds on the 30th October, 1876. These little 

 islands are favourite haunts of all our waders. 



Some time early in November I saw an immature Long-tailed 

 Duck on the river near Moyfort. On the 24th April I went 

 down the Moyne channel in my punt almost as far as Killala, 

 to see whether any waders had lingered on about the Bartragh 

 and Moyne sands. I only met with about twenty Godwits and 

 one Grey Plover, but neither Knots, Turnstones, nor Sanderlings 



were visible. 



A pair of Long-eared Owls reared two young ones in an old 

 Magpie's nest close by here, and from the many good oppor- 

 tunities I had of hearing the male bird calling, I am more 

 inclined than ever to describe the call as a "moan" rather than 



a "hoot." 



Of our summer visitors, the Sandwich Terns, as usual, 

 formed the advance guard, appearing in the bay on the 1st of 

 April ; next were the Chiffchaffs, on the 6th ; Willow Wrens on 

 the 8th; and the first Swallow was seen near Ballina on the 

 23rd. Whimbrels were heard on the 28th April, and Common 

 Terns visited the bay on the 29th, and on the same date both 

 Corn Crake and Cuckoo were heard at Killanly. Sedge Warblers 

 were observed on the islands of Lough Conn on the 19th May ; 

 but neither the Whitethroat nor Spotted Flycatcher were heard 



until the 20th. 



On the 19th May, accompanied by my friend Dr. Darling, of 

 Balliua, I visited some of the islands in Lough Conn, but the 



