290 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



the sands after the spring migration ; and also to prove the cor- 

 rectness of a statement made to me that a colony of Terns 

 were breeding on the Inch, a long narrow ridge of gravel and 

 stones thrown up by the action of the tides at Killala Pool, 

 between Killala and Eoss. Dropping down on the ebb tide to 

 Bartragh, I observed a good many Common and Sandwich Terns, 

 the latter engaged in bringing sand-eels from the bay to feed their 

 mates, for the females now are all batching, these Terns being 

 early breeders. Very few of the Common Terns appeared car- 

 rying sand-eels; most of them are playing and fishing about the 

 channels. Further clown on the Enniscrone Sands I saw a flock 

 of about fifty Oystercatchers, probably barren birds, or too 

 young for breeding, their nearest nesting-haunt being about ten 

 or twelve miles away, near Ballycastle, Co. Mayo, where these 

 birds breed in the fields close to cliffs along the coast. I then 

 slowly paddled across the estuary by Bartragh, to Killala Pool 

 at the end of the island, seeing on the way four male Shel- 

 drakes resting on the sands, evidently flocking together (like 

 Mallards), while their mates were on their nests in the sand-hills. 

 A little further on I observed five Grey Plovers, but not near 

 enough to see whether they had put on the black breasts of 

 summer. 



Several Terns, either Arctic or Common, were flying about, 

 and a Little Tern was fishing close by; while, a short distance 

 off, a pretty group of five Black Guillemots, in their clean- 

 looking black and white plumage of summer, were quietly resting 

 on the water. I afterwards saw another bird, thus making up 

 the three pairs. Tbey evidently had not commenced to breed, 

 for the nearest nesting-place was about six miles off, near Down- 

 patrick Head ; and Black Guillemots, after they begin to breed, 

 are seldom seen any distance from their nesting-places, and 

 never in flocks. 



I then pushed on for the Inch, for I had but little time to 

 spare, the tide being nearly at its height, and I did not wish for 

 a heavy pull of five miles against the tide on my return. On 

 nearing the Inch, I observed a number of Little Terns, as well 

 as some of the larger species, flying about ; and on the end of the 

 gravelly spit, a little flock of both species resting together on the 

 stones ; and near them, five or six Turnstones in the inter- 

 mediate stage between the winter and summer plumages ; also 



