1902-1903.] 107 



River below Moonlieve, at the foot of the Happy Valley, where 

 the new reservoir for the Belfast water supply is to be con- 

 structed. Perched blocks in many places attest the carrying 

 power of ice. Of these Cloughmore, a block of granite (differ- 

 ing in composition from the Mourne granite) on the mountain 

 above Rostrevor, is a well-known example. The ancient name 

 of the range was Beanna Boirche, but in the twelfth century 

 a tribe of MacMahons emigrated from Cremourne, in County 

 Monaghan, and settled here, giving the district the name of 

 Mourne, by which it has since been known. In the neigh- 

 bourhood are to be seen several places of interest to the anti- 

 quary. The ruins of Clonduff (Meadow of the Ox) Church, 

 below the east gable of which is a fine grave slab of the 

 Maginess family, the remains of a stone circle on Goward 

 Hill and Goward Cromleac (locally known as " Pat Kearney's 

 Big Stone "), and an ancient granite stone bearing prehistoric 

 carving of the " cup and gutter pattern " may be mentioned. 

 The lecturer then described the ascent of some of the peaks — 

 Slieve Donard (2,796 feet), the highest mountain in Ulster; 

 Slieve Commedagh (2,512 feet), on the side of which is to be 

 seen that wonderful natural structure " The Castles," formed 

 by the peculiar vertical and horizontal jointing of the granite; 

 Slieve Bingian (2,449 feet), with Lough Bingian perched on a 

 sort of shelf on its side at an elevation of 1,350 feet; Slieve 

 Bernagh, crowned, like Bingian, with massive granite crags; 

 Eagle Mountain (2,084 feet), with its cliffs the most precipi- 

 tous in the range, and beside which stands up in the Castle 

 Bog a fine granite boss known as Pierce's Castle. About 

 these mountains are to be observed some birds which are not 

 usually to be seen in the cultivated lowlands. Here the pere- 

 grine falcon annually rears its brood ; ring ousels on the 

 mountain sides and water ousels along the streams are seen in 

 fair numbers, and on some of the lower slopes those birds of 

 very local distribution in Ireland, the whinchat and nightjar, 

 are observed. Kestrels are plentiful, and on one occasion 

 eight were seen together hovering over the mountain side on 

 the lookout for food. What a pity it is that these birds are so 



