BIRD LIFE ON THE SALTEES AND THE KERAGHS. 97 
eggs or young have been obtained there. *Peregrine Falcon, 
Spotted Flycatcher, *Hedge Sparrow, Stonechat, +Wheatear, 
*Wren, Pied Wagtail, {Rock Pipit, (Meadow Pipit, *Sky Lark, 
Common Bunting, Linnet, Jackdaw, *Swallow, Swift, Nightjar, 
tRock Dove, *Oystercatcher, *Ringed Plover, *Green Plover, 
Whimbrel, Corn Crake, +Sheldrake, *Cormorant, *Shag, *Guille- 
mot, *Razorbill, *Puffin, *Kittiwake, *Lesser Black-backed 
Gull, *Herring Gull, *Great Black-backed Gull. 
The Keragh or Keroe Islands.—Two small uninhabited islands 
in Barmow Bay, about one mile from the mainland of the Co. 
Wexford and seven miles from the Saltees. Owing to submerged 
reefs landing is dangerous. Within their rocky margin their 
surface is covered with luxuriant grass and herbage. As one 
nears the western Keragh in June a clamorous colony of 
Terns may be seen about its highest part, which all take wing 
when one lands, and remains at such a height that one cannot 
settle the question whether they are of the Common or Arctic 
species. My own impression, when I visited the Keraghs on 
the 7th June, 1883, as well ‘as that of others on a different 
occasion, was that both species were seen. I found many of 
their eggs, sometimes on the bare rock or shingle, and some- 
times among the grass where it was not growing rank. There I 
saw numbers of depressions as if Terns were preparing to lay. 
In most cases I found single eggs, but in many there were two, 
and in only one case three eggs. They were all fresh. Twenty- 
five of them vary in length from 1°67 to 1:48 inch, and in 
breadth from 1:23 to 1:09 inch, the average measurements 
being 1°6 x 1°15 inch. While some, from their larger size and 
pale colour, may be eggs of the Common Tern, many others 
being smaller, dark, and boldly marked, must belong to the Arctic 
Tern. Mr. Sturge found but one Tern’s egg on the Keragh on 
the 30th May, 1883, but on the 21st June Messrs. Baker, Salter, 
and Neale took many, of which the greater part were slightly 
incubated. This fixes the second week in June as the time the 
Keragh Terns laid most eggs. Mr. Baker remarked, “ As far as 
I observed, no clutch on the shingle contained more than two 
eggs, while on the grass I got several clutches of four besides 
the usual three.” Probably the nests containing four eggs were 
used by two females. A few Terns lay on the shingly beach 
ZOOLOGIST.—MARCH, 1886. I 
