Scharff — Occurrence ofPaua&'s Sandgrouse in Ireland. 281 



The invasion of Ireland by the sandgrouse now suddenly ceases, 

 and nothing is heard about it for nearly a month, until a report 

 comes from Mr. Barrington, of Fassaroe, of his having received a 

 male specimen from Mornington (Co. Meath). Three others were 

 shot on that occasion, one of which was eaten by a Dublin gentle- 

 man, who told me that it was as dry as a chip. Mr. Harrison, of 

 the Mornington Lighthouse, was good enough to forward me 

 particulars, and according to his statement these birds were shot 

 out of a flock of fourteen, on July 11th. 



Meanwhile Mr. Lloyd Patterson, of Belfast, kindly sent me a 

 note, saying that four additional specimens had been killed in the 

 north— one at Dungannon (Co. Tyrone), and three on Copeland 

 Island, at the mouth of Belfast Lough. 



Although I have taken some trouble to find out whether any of 

 the sandgrouse were bred in Ireland, nothing could be ascertained to 

 show that such had actually been the case. In fact nothing definite 

 has been seen or heard of this singular bird in Ireland between 

 the date of the last occurrence and the end of November, when a 

 specimen was said to have been shot at Portumna (Co. Gralway). 

 When I was in Belfast the other day, I saw several specimens at 

 Mr. Sheals's, the bird-stuffer, and I hear that four were obtained at 

 Kircubbin (Co. Down), on November 20th, and another at the 

 same place, on the 1st of December. 



Now, if we look through the observations I have just made, it 

 will be noticed that we have records of twenty- eight specimens 

 having found their death in Ireland up to the present. Many more 

 may have been killed of which we have no information. Another 

 fact made apparent by these investigations is, that several distinct 

 immigrations have taken place from the east. The most westerly 

 point reached by these birds, and precisely ascertained, was Bel- 

 mullet (Co. Mayo). This is considerably further west than Naran, 

 in Co. Donegal, which was the extreme west attained in 1863. 



The immigrations I refer to began at the end of May and lasted 

 to the middle of July, when they ceased until the end of November. 

 It would be rather difficult to say, with any degree of accuracy, 

 how many specimens of this bird found their way to Ireland ; how- 

 ever, I hope I may be excused for attempting to arrive at some 

 estimate of the numbers. Taking the first flock in round numbers 

 as consisting of about twenty ; the second which appeared in the 



