10 86 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



seed-disperser : but it is held by the author that its present grain-eating 

 propensity is due to the too great abundance of the bird ; so we cannot, 

 with safety, apply the English figures to the West of Ireland, where the 

 Eook is less abundant. Much less can we assume that in past times grain 

 formed so large a proportion of its food. 



The great bird colonies of the island consist of Guillemots, Eazorbills, 

 Puffins, Kittiwakes, Herring-Gulls, and Shags, with a few Black Guillemots, 

 Great Black-backed Gulls, &c. ; none of these can be looked on as efficient 

 agents of seed-dispersal. It is true that Lagerheim 1 found that, in Arctic 

 Europe, gulls are greedy consumers of berries such as those of Empetrum ; 

 but we have no evidence of this habit locally, nor should we expect such in 

 view of the rarity of ground berries, and the easier conditions of existence as 

 regards food-supply. Perhaps the Chough, which replaces the Jackdaw on 

 the island, is a more hopeful subject ; but we have no definite local 

 information concerning its food. 



The most important of all bird-movements — namely, the seasonal migra- 

 tions — may be eliminated so far as Clare Island is concerned. The island lies 

 outside the main migration routes. From the tens of thousands of records 

 of migrating birds given by Barrington, 2 Clare Island is conspicuous by its 

 absence. The present light-keepers confirm the fact of the singular absence 

 of migrating birds at the lighthouse throughout the year. 



In any case, a large body of evidence goes to show that migrating birds 

 travel with empty stomachs and clean externally. On this point the Danish 

 observations, referred to on p. 90, may be quoted. But it ought to be stated 

 that there are not wanting observations which suggest that this may not be a 

 universal rule. Thus Duval-Jouve, 3 examining the migratory swimming 

 birds exposed in the market at Strasbourg, " trouve presque toujours des 

 debris de plantes accolees contre le poitrail, et plus souvent encore aux 

 pattes," and lists twelve species of marsh- or water-plants identified. 4 And an 

 anonymous writer states 6 that, in Sicily, birds on both the northern and 

 southern migrations bring many seeds, in their crops and also on their feet. 

 He lists some of the species found with each bird, and says that it is 

 customary to sow the contents of the alimentary canal of Quails, and thus to 

 obtain unfamiliar plants. 



1 0. Ekstam: he. cit., p. 51. 



* It. M. Barrinoton : The migration of birds as observed at Irish lighthouses and lightships. 

 London and Dublin. [1900.] 



3 Bull. Soc. Bot. France, xi, p. 265. 1864. 



* In this case there seems to be a lack of evidence that the seeds may not have become attached 

 by contact with the ground or with packing, &c, after death. 



5 Zugvogel als Pflanzenverbreiter. Osterr. Forst- und Jagdzeitung, xxi., p. 140. 1903. 

 Abstract in Bot. Centralblatt, xcii, p. 561. 



