1908-1909.] x 6i 



"Maidens, off Lame, February 21st and 22nd, 1890; great 

 rushes of birds, chiefly Thrushes, Blackbirds, Redwings, Curlews, 

 Lapwings, Starlings, Skylarks, and Yellow Hammers ; no Skylarks, 

 14 Redwings, 6 Thrushes, n Blackbirds, 8 Starlings, 3 Yellow 

 Hammers, and 2 Lapwings killed striking." 



Further evidence as to the wonderful numbers of different 

 species of birds that are here in some winters, can be found in 

 Mr. R. J. Ussher's standard work on the " Birds of Ireland." 

 He says : — " A gentleman, writing from County Donegal in 

 December, 1882, said, 'A flock of 300 or 400 Magpies visited us 

 the other day.' In snow, a fresh immigration of Skylarks takes 

 place, a tide of birds flowing into Ireland in tens, hundreds, 

 and thousands." 



Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey describes the number of Woodcock 

 that were taken in Counties Kerry and Clare during the frost of 

 January, 1881, when he counted 800 laid out on benches on one 

 occasion ; they were not only shot but killed with sticks and 

 stones, and brought for sale by the peasantry in sacks. 



Colonel Vernon informed Mr. Ussher that during a portion 

 of the severe winter of 1880-81 he shot in County Kerry 1,073 

 Snipe, and could have killed a much larger number ; the same 

 winter a well-known Snipe shooter is said to have got as many as 

 1,376 Snipe in the County of Clare. 



These are rather dry extracts, which perhaps I should 

 apologise for quoting at such length, but my reason is to 

 try to bring before you some idea of the huge and countless 

 numbers of birds that spend the winter here with us in Ireland. 

 Therefore, I think we may fairly say from the figures I have 

 already given that the number of birds that are always with 

 us works out into amazing and unsuspected multitudes. 



What do these birds live on ? Surely such a huge population 

 must require a huge amount of food. Let us see if we can form 

 some rough idea as to this. 



