88 THE ZOOLOGIST. 
Gravesend, now the seat of the Karl of Darnley. A heronry 
has existed here from time immemorial, and it is quite possible 
that ‘‘ Shovelards’’ may have once nested there with the Herons, 
just as they did at Fulham. 
It seems unnecessary at the present time to show that by the 
name ‘‘Shoveler” or ‘“‘Shovelard” the Spoonbill (Platalea 
leucorodia) was intended, and not the Shoveler Duck (Anas 
clypeata), especially as I have already dwelt upon this point in 
my former article on the subject (Zool. 1877, p. 428). In 
addition to the illustrations there given of the former use of 
the name ‘‘Shoveler” to designate the Spoonbill, the following 
may be noted :— 
Drayton, describing the fenland of Lincolnshire in 1622, 
with its various wildfowl, mentions the ‘‘ Shoveler”” amongst the 
notable birds to be found in the Isle of Axholme, and refers 
particularly (‘ Polyolbion,’ Song xxv.) to the whizzing sound of 
its pinions in flight, a peculiarity which no other writer that I 
am aware of has noticed. 
Skelton, the poet-laureate, in his poem on ‘ Philip Sparrow,’ 
notices ‘the Shovelar with his brode beck.” 
The accompanying plate is, by permission, from an illustration 
in ‘Essays on Sport and Natural History,’ published by Horace 
Cox, ‘The Field’ Office. 
BIRD-LIFE ON THE SALTEES AND THE KERAGHS, 
CO. WEXFORD. 
By Ricaarp J. UssHer. 
THE Saltees are two islands lying off the south coast of 
Wexford, not far from the south-east angle of Ireland. The 
south Saltee is the larger, and is distant about three and a half 
miles from the mainland at its nearest point. It extends south- 
wards about a mile and a quarter in length. No island equally 
large and elevated is to be found from Lambay Island north of 
Dublin Bay to Cape Clear, and most of the Wexford coasts are 
low and sandy ; accordingly the South Saltee is the chief breeding 
resort of sea-fowl in this part of Ireland, continued persecution 
having driven them more and more from the coasts. 
