NOTES ON SOME IRISH BIRDS. B51 



gives the Wigeon as possibly having bred, though without com- 

 plete proof having been obtained in a single case, in four 

 counties, the Pochard as possibly breeding in ten counties, and 

 the Pintail as having probably bred in two counties. He 

 appears to admit definitely one record made many years ago for 

 the last species in Queen's County, but definite records of the 

 breeding of all of these Ducks in Ireland are greatly to be desired. 

 I can only add to the mystery by saying that I have seen a 

 drake Pochard in Leitrim early in the nesting season, in a piace 

 where it may quite possibly have been breeding, and that I have 

 seen Pintails in two different counties quite late in the breeding 

 season. I saw drake Pintails twice in Co. Monaghan in June 

 some years ago, and last year, on June 24th, I saw a drake Pin- 

 tail on a lake in Co. Sligo. It was at a distance of about a 

 hundred and fifty yards from me, and the day was not too bright, 

 but I watched it carefully with a telescope for some minutes and 

 could distinguish the white stripe through the brown on the 

 neck. Some day all of these Ducks will be definitely proved to 

 breed in Ireland. 



I have two inland records for the Black-tailed Godwit in 

 Ireland. When I was staying at Ballinamore in Co. Leitrim, 

 on April 26th, 1906, a bird of this species was brought for sale 

 by a small boy. It was priced at one shilling, as a Woodcock ! 

 It was brought with the inevitable lie that it had been caught in 

 a rat-trap, but I heard later that it had been shot out of a large 

 flock at Garadice Lake. It was alive, with one wing broken, 

 and in splendid breeding plumage. The other record for Black- 

 tailed Godwit is for Co. Monaghan. I was at a Duck " flight " 

 with my brother in the first week of August, 1912, when we 

 saw what we took to be four Curlew flying past at a considerable 

 distance and whistled them in very successfully, and some very 

 bad shooting added one Black-tailed Godwit to the bag. A few 

 ' days later we saw two more in the same neighbourhood'. It 

 would seem that on migration these birds sometimes take an 

 inland route. In ' The Birds of Ireland ' it is stated that a very 

 few have occurred in spring, chiefly inland, and that ten. 

 occurrences altogether have been recorded in inland counties. 



