280 Scientific Proceedings, Royal Dublin Society. 



observed a flock of fifteen feeding in a barley-field on May 1 3th. 

 By the end of the month of May reports were sent in from all over 

 England and Scotland. 



This sandgrouse made its first appearance in Ireland this year 

 on the estate of Mr. David Sherlock, near Tullamore (King's Co.). 

 Five specimens were observed by this gentleman on May 20th, one 

 of which — a female — he kindly presented to the Science and Art 

 Museum. On the same day a good-sized flock appeared on the 

 west coast of Ireland, in Co. Clare. Mr. Burton, of Carrigaholt 

 Castle (Co. Clare), secured two of these birds — both, females. He 

 likewise made a donation of one of his specimens to the Museum, 

 and it was set up by Mr. Williams with expanded wings, so as to 

 show them in their full extension. A few days later a specimen 

 was shot at Killough (Co. Down), and sent for preservation to a 

 Belfast taxidermist. A second capture in the north was reported 

 about the same time from Limavady (Co. Londonderry), and it 

 probably belonged to the same flock. 



The Rev. Henry Hewson of Belmullet, to whom I am much 

 indebted for this information, states that five or six birds were 

 noticed in the county Mayo about the beginning of June, and 

 three of them were shot, one of these having been forwarded to 

 Mr. Tank, a Dublin taxidermist, as reported by me in the Septem- 

 ber number of the Zoologist. Ou the 4th of June three specimens of 

 the sandgrouse were seen on the wing by a gentleman near Mala- 

 hide, in Co. Dublin, and the fact was duly published in the Field. 

 The Rev. P. Keatinge, of Athlone, was good enough to 

 send me a communication to the effect of his having met with 

 a flock of sixteen specimens at Woodpark near Annaghdown 

 (Co. Gralway), on June 8th. One of these was captured and 

 kept alive for some time by a farmer, and after its death it was 

 sent to Dublin to be stuffed. A week later (June 16th), a dead 

 female specimen was picked up at Clontarf (Co. Dublin), having 

 been maimed by flying against a telegraph wire. The next day 

 we heard again from the west, that two specimens were shot out 

 of a flock of four at Athlone (Co. Roscommon). Mr. Ussher, of 

 Cappagh, reported in the Zoologist that he had received a sandgrouse 

 from Rosslare (Co. Wexford), which seems to be the only specimen 

 killed in the south of Ireland, although Mr. Rohu, of Cork, tells 

 me that half a dozen or so were seen near Mallow. 



