20 2 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



few laud-birds are resident on the former, their characteristics are those of a 

 part or the whole of Ireland and not of the island, which is but a point in 

 their range ; its bird-life partakes in the seasonal movements and character 

 of the west coast avifauna, which can only be understood by the study of an 

 extended coast-line, such as that from Erris Head to Slyne Head. Even this 

 will need comparison with the coasts of Donegal and Kerry, or other 

 portions of the western littoral. 



The west coast of Ireland has not been treated of separately by 

 ornithologists, but it offers features of its own. It is out of the over-sea 

 track of most passerine migrants, though some rare stragglers, like the 

 Wood "Wren and Crossbill, have reached Black Rock, Mayo ; flocks of 

 land-birds, however, visit the islands in winter, especially in frost and snow, 

 and some summer migrants breed there. 



The west coast, and especially the northern part of it, is the main Irish 

 resort of winter visitors from countries north of the British Islands, which 

 evidently arrive in Donegal or North Mayo, where some remain to winter, 

 while others pass on to Kerry and its islands ; a few linger until summer, like 

 the Greenland Falcon, Scaup Duck, Purple Sandpiper, Sanderling, Northern 

 Diver, and Sclavonian Grebe. A few arctic-breeding birds have colonies; 

 eg. Eed-necked Phalarope, Common Gull, aud Fulmar. In common with 

 Kerry, western Connaught has breeding resorts of two Petrels and the Manx 

 Shearwater ; and is touched by the wandering bands of Great and Sooty 

 Shearwaters. Its marine and mountain cliffs have until recently been among 

 the last strongholds of Eagles, and are still the homes of Peregrines, Eavens, 

 and Choughs; and the Great Black-backed Gull is probably nowhere so 

 numerous in Europe as it is on the west coast of Ireland, especially on the 

 Bills of Achill. The natural features of this coast are varied b} r stupendous 

 sea-cliffs (as are Clare Island and Achill), and lofty mountains, their slopes 

 buried in peat ; there are huge bays — Clew Bay and Blacksod Bay — with 

 sands and "mud-banks, and swampy lakes near the coast, as on the Mullet, 

 which offer refuges and feeding-grounds to Swans, Geese, Ducks, and Waders. 

 The "sheltered" country about Westport, holding timber, is inhabited by 

 woodland birds not found on the exposed coast ; while the islands and rocks 

 are resorted to by Wheatears, Twites, Oyster-catchers, Arctic Terns, and 

 Petrels for breeding purposes. 



The shores of Clare Island are too stony to afford feeding for most Waders 

 and Ducks'; but Geese of at least two species pasture on the western end; and 

 Golden Plover and Woodcocks seek its mountains and moors in winter, while 

 the belt of small farms holds such birds as the three Buntings, Stonechats ; 

 Whitethroats, Cuckoos, and Corncrakes. 



