222 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Ac-ademy. 



sea, yielded Sium augustifolium, Bidens eernua, Ehocharis muUicaidis, 

 and abundance of Blysmus rufus. 



The following day (July 14tli) was one of those prevalent ex- 

 periences which render one of the opinion that the western seaboard 

 of Ireland is unfit for human habitation — a day of enduring and ex- 

 traordinarily soaking rain. I continued the coast line west from 

 Gallams bog to the western horn of Smerwick Harbour, round the 

 Three Sisters, and Sybil Head to Clogher Head. ]S"ear Gallarus, 

 Euonynms europceus, Carex teretiuscida, C. limosa, C. dioica, C. extensa, 

 and Potamoydon pectinatus were noted. On the sands, at west side 

 of harbour, Convohidus soldanella, Orchis pyramidcdis, Rosa pinqnnelli- 

 folia, Asperida cynancliica, Polygonum raii, and Uquisetum palustre 

 were met with. On the eastern side of the " Three Sisters," in steep 

 overhanging cliffs, I was interested to observe a heronry. There ap- 

 peared to be seven or eight pairs of birds, and some of the young still 

 remained with the nests. 1 learned from a fisherman that herons had 

 formerly bred on the cliffs between Dallydavid and Brandon Head, 

 but having had their nests robbed they had discovered this site, which 

 has baffled all the boys of the country. St. John, in his JFild 

 Sports of the Highlands, notices a similar case on wooded cliffs in 

 Cromarty. "Where there is no timber, these birds have been some- 

 times known to build on the ground, but I know of no other instance 

 of their selecting bare sea cliffs. The "Three Sisters" is also a 

 breeding station for greater black-backed gulls and peregrine falcons, 

 and I have never seen choughs so abundant as here, not even on the 

 coast of the Rosses, county Donegal. A large flock of these birds 

 kept continually wheeling and screaming around me, and I counted 

 upwards of a hundred individuals together on one occasion. On the 

 seaward side of a low wall along the exposed crest of the " Three 

 Sisters," between the second and third of the eminences so named, I 

 found abundance of the dwarf adder's tongue ( 0. lusitanicum) already 

 mentioned. No further species of interest occurred except a curious 

 form of Centaurea nigra, very stunted, with a solitary flower, very 

 vividly coloured and large, and bearing conspicuous ray florets, at 

 Doon Point. In Ferriter's Cove, Asjjerida cynanchica maintains its 

 ground sparingly, but the flora of this exposed and storm-swept 

 extremity is very scanty. In this sandy bay. Convolvulus soldanella, 

 Salsola kali, Cakile, and Beta occur ; and here I struck across country 

 back to Ballynagall, as marked on the map, Ballydavid as called on 

 the spot. On the way near Ballyfeniter, I gatliered Stachys arvensis 

 in several places, and Pimpinella mayna along ditch banks by the 

 road, both local species, but already recorded from Kerry. 



July 15th. — Having rowed a curragh across to the south-west 

 comer of Smerwfck Harbour, I explored the hills behind BLdlyferiiter, 

 and, striking across Croaghmartin, took up the coast line at Clogher 

 Head, which I followed right round Dunmore Head, lying abreast of 

 the Blasquets at the extreme west of Ireland. Prom hero the coast 

 wends east round Slca Head, where the magnificent scenery is dis- 



