122 DUBLIN NATURAL HISTOET SOCIETY. 



Great Cormorant (C. cormoranus). — Is very abundant, and breeds on 

 the high cliffs round the Mayo coast. It extends its fishing excursions 

 very far inland. I have seen them on Lough Conn, in Mayo, and onLough 

 Erne, in Fermanagh. 



Green Cormorant (G. cristata). — Is also very numerous. It appears 

 to me to be strictly marine in its habits, for I have never seen it fishing 

 in the fresh water of either lake or river. They breed round Mayo 

 coast, from Kilcummin Head to Downpatrick Head, and farther west, 

 wherever the coast is suitable. 



Gannet {S. hassana) — May be seen fishing in summer far out in the 

 bay ; and I have no doubt that they breed on those stupendous rocks or 

 islands, the Stags of Broadhavdn, on the north-west coast of Mayo. In 

 September, 1851, 1 caught a young bird of the year on the Bartra sands; 

 it appeared quite exhausted for want of food. 



Sandwich Tern {St. Cantiaca). — This beautiful bird is the most 

 abundant of all the tribe which frequent KiUala Bay, and the earliest 

 to make its appearance in spring. A few of the dates of its arrival since 

 1851 which I have noted are as follows, viz. — In 1851, April 6th; 

 1852, March 23rd; 1853, April 7th ; 1854, March 21st ; 1855, April 

 1st ; 1856, March 20th ; but the main flock did not arrive until the 26th. 

 Since that year, I have not had the opportunity of noting their arrival 

 in spring. The only breeding haunt they have, which I am acquainted 

 with, is a small fresh-water lake, of a few acres in extent, close to the 

 residence of William Gardiner, Esq., of Cloonagh, about two miles from 

 BaUina, and four from the sea. There is a colony of Black -headed Gulls 

 also breeding on the lake ; but the Terns keep apart from them, and lay 

 their eggs on a flat mud-bank, near the middle of the lake. I was for 

 a long time puzzled as to where they bred; and seeing them all through 

 the breeding season carrying sand-eels in their bills to feed their young 

 puzzled me the more, because I always saw them fly across the country 

 in the direction of Lough Conn, and when visiting that lake I never 

 could find them ; and it was by mere chance I discovered them at Cloo- 

 nagh, in May, 1857. They breed earlier than the smaller species of Tern. 

 I have found their eggs nearly hatched the latter end of May. 



Common Tern {8. hirundo). — Is very numerous in summer, and they 

 breed on some flat islets in Lough Conn. I have never known them to 

 arrive in the bay before the month of May. 



Arctic Tern {St. Arcticd). — I have occasionally shot in summer on 

 the river ; but I have not been able yet to ascertain where they breed. 



Little Tern {St. minuta). — Is occasionally seen in summer. On the 

 24th of May, 1851, 1 shot one out of a flock of three, as they were fish- 

 ing near Bartra; and in July, 1861, on the sands near KiUala, I saw 

 two old ones, with a young one in company ; the latter appeared only to 

 have left the nest a few days before, its wings not being quite grown, al- 

 though it was able to fly. 



Black Tern {St. nigra).— On the 12th of October, 1859, as I was 

 fishing near Bartra, at the mouth of the river, where it flows into the 

 bay, I observed a flock of four or five small Terns resting on a sand- 



