Clare Island Survey — Aves. 20 3 



Inishturk is entirely mountainous ; but Inishbofin is lower, more extensive 

 and undulating, with some cliffs, harbours, lakes, and sands. The Bills — two 

 rocky islands, rising a little over 100 feet — are six miles south of Achill and 

 eight north-west of Clare Island, in the full sweep of the ocean. They are 

 densely colonized with birds, especially by Great Black-backed Gulls and 

 Puffins, which nest among the huge bosses of thrift. Achill has two mountain 

 groups over 2000 feet high, cliffs pierced with caverns, much moorland, some 

 small lakes, sandy shores where the Waders of Blacksod Bay feed, and it is 

 divided from the mainland by a long sound, with several sand-banks, and close 

 by which are Glendarary plantations, that have attracted Tits, Sparrow- 

 Hawks, and Woodpigeons. The Mullet, a low, bare, undulating peninsula, 

 15 miles long, possesses cliffs along its northern moorland part ; it is resorted 

 to by the arctic visitors ; and it shelters the great expanse of Blacksod Bay, to 

 the east of which extends for 20 miles the largest bog in Ireland, where 

 Common Gulls, Curlews, Golden Plover, and Dunlins breed. West of the 

 Mullet lie the Duvillauns, the Inishkeas, and other islands, the homes of 

 Petrels, Terns, Gulls, Peregrines, and Eavens, 



This coast is subject to the most violent storms and tremendous wave- 

 action, and many migrating birds avoid the shoulder of Connaught by passing- 

 down the chain of lakes Conn, Mask, and Corrib ; projecting as it does, 

 this shoulder seems to catch the fugitives from the north, offering them 

 a resting-ground. 



The climate of western Connaught is equable and moist, and the south- 

 west winds sweep undiluted in temperature and force upon its islands from 

 the ocean, which consequently are resorted to in winter by many passerine 

 birds that do not breed there. 



Dispersal of Seeds and Migration. 



This subject is treated of in a previous part at considerable length, and it 

 is stated 1 : — " As regards purely local movements the ornithologists have little 

 to tell us. We do not know what species of birds fly frequently to and fro 

 between the island and the mainland, nor at what seasons." The writer of 

 the present report hopes he has supplied this want by showing that every 

 year, chiefly in October and November, when seeds are ripe, there is a large 

 migration into the island of land-birds of the Thrush family, Finches of 

 different species, Starlings, Books, and Larks, all of which are seed- or berry- 

 feeders ; so that as far as birds can convey seeds there are unlimited 

 possibilities every autumn of their transmission to the western islands, and 

 there are also lower forms of animal life which appear to be thus transportable. 



1 Clare Island Survey, Part 10, p. So. 



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