1904-1905.] 263 



the wants of the huge party had been attended to, a short 

 business meeting was held, when, on the motion of the Presi- 

 dent, Mr. W. J. Fennell, M.R.I. A. I., cordial votes of thanks 

 were passed to Mr. Maude, to whom the members were in- 

 debted for obtaining Lord Downshire's permission to view his 

 grounds; to Mr. Bradshaw, who escorted the party; and to 

 Mr. and Mrs. N. H. Foster for their hospitality. The election 

 of Mrs. Stephens, Miss Stephens, Mrs. Courvoisier, Miss Cour- 

 voisier, Mrs. W. C. Dobbin, Miss May Maguire, Messrs. Wm. 

 Gaffikin, Charles Roy, S. H. Douey, James Steel, G-. S. Kirker, 

 and W. T. Braithwaite to membership brought the business 

 meeting to a close, after which the members proceeded to 

 visit the parish church, an elegant structure erected in 1773, 

 on the site of an older building erected in 1662, and consisting 

 of a nave and cross aisles, with a tower upwards of 100 feet 

 high, surmounted by a steeple of 110 feet more, and forming 

 a well-proportioned object visible at a great distance. It 

 contains a very fine peal of eight bells, and in connection with 

 them is an old carillon which plays tunes upon the bells at 

 the hours of 4, 8, and 12. 



The district is rich in bird life, and several of the rarer 

 Irish breeding species regularly nest in the vicinity. Among 

 these may be mentioned the dipper, the siskin, the twite, the 

 kingfisher, the stock-dove, and the great crested grebe. The 

 thirteenth recorded specimen from Ireland of that Arctic bird, 

 the rough-legged buzzard, was taken about a mile from the 

 village in November last. A member handed in a list of 27 

 species of birds which he had observed during the afternoon. 

 On the way to the old castle the members were disgusted at 

 the blot on the fair landscape made by the keepers' 

 " museum." Hanging on a tree, in various stages of putrifi- 

 cation, were half a dozen owls and the same number of 

 ^ kestrels, along with sparrow-hawks and stoats. Merely from 

 the low standpoint of game preservation little objection can 

 be taken to the two latter, but how many years must elapse 

 before ignorant gamekeepers learn that owls and kestrels are 

 the best friends they have, and should be strictly protected ? 



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