20 6 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, 



III.— LIST OF SPECIES. 



Turdus viscivorus, Linn. Mistle-Thrush. — A mere straggler to Clare Island, 

 met with in May and October, but may yet settle there, owing to its 

 continued spread throughout Ireland for more than a century. Up to 

 1860 it was unknown in Achill, but is now a resident and breeds there, as 

 it does around Westport and on the Mullet. In North Mayo and West 

 Donegal it has greatly increased, and breeds occasionally on the side of 

 a rocky ravine on a ledge like a Ring Ouzel. Mistle-Thrushes were 

 reported from Black Rock (Mayo) in March, and a specimen from 

 Aranmore, 30th November (Barrington). 



Turdus musicus, Linn. Song-Thrush.— Numbers visit Clare Island in winter. 

 On 29th December, 1910, Patten noted " Song-Thrushes abundant on 

 the beach, heather, bogs, and cultivated parts " ; he shot two specimens. 

 Light-keepers have noticed numbers at the end of October and during 

 November and December. On the Mullet the species is practically 

 absent in su mm er, but in winter numbers feed there on snails among 

 the sand-dunes. 



A few breed on Clare Island and many on Achill and the mainland 

 round Clew Bay. In November, and through winter, when there is frost 

 and snow, flocks of Song-Thrushes, Blackbirds, and others take refuge on 

 all the outer islands off the west coast, but generally desert them in the 

 breeding-season, a few remaining on extended points of the mainland, 

 as the promontory west of Dingle. 



Turdus iliacus, Linn. Redwing. — A specimen was shot on the island by 

 Patten, 29th December, 1910. Others observed in November and March. 

 The Redwing is a winter visitor to Westport and Achill, is scarce on the 

 Mullet, but numerous about Ballina. Though not partial to bare coasts 

 and islands, like the Fieldfare, this species, together with its congeners and 

 Starlings, flies thither in times of snow, and perishes in great numbers. 



Turdis pilaris, Linn. Fieldfare. — Winter visitor in large numbers, Clare 

 Island being better suited to its habits than to those of the last species. 

 Patten saw flocks in December and got specimens. Barrington observed 

 a flock in March, and in the schedules of Hammond, the principal light- 

 keeper, there are nine entries of Fieldfares, usually in numbers, during 

 October, November, and December, 1904 to 1907. The migration reports 

 show that hosts of Fieldfares arrive by Inishtrahull and pass down both 

 coasts, chiefly the western. From 18th to 23rd December, 1885, immense 

 flocks of Fieldfares, Thrushes, and Starlings passed Rathlin O'Birne Island, 

 going westward into the Atlantic (Migration Report). 



