364 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTES FROM NORTH- 

 WESTERN IRELAND. 



By Robert Warren. 



It may interest some of the readers of ' The Zoologist ' to 

 learn that the White Wagtails (Motacilla alba) have again visited 

 the island of Bartragh (Killala Bay) this season on their northern 

 migration. Mr. A. C. Kirkwood, on April 27th, met a solitary 

 bird in the stable-yard at Bartragh, and secured the specimen 

 for a friend's collection. A few days after he met another bird 

 at the same place, which remained only for a few days, and then 

 disappeared. This bird was succeeded by a pair that were seen on 

 May 4th picking up insects on a manure-heap in the farmyard, 

 but they stayed only for a couple of days, disappearing, like 

 the other bird, after they fed and rested. From the fact of these 

 Wagtails having been observed during the spring migration on 

 the island of Bartragh in 1851, 1893, 1897, 1898, and in April 

 and May of the present year, it is more than probable that they 

 pass over Bartragh every spring on their way to Iceland, but are 

 not seen by observers unless northerly winds are blowing at the 

 time of their passage, which cause some birds, from fatigue, to 

 drop down on Bartragh, and feed and rest before continuing their 

 northern journey. 



The Bar-tailed Godwits (Limosalapponica) are still remaining 

 about the sands of the bay and estuary. On June 13th I observed 

 several flocks which altogether might number one hundred and 

 fifty birds, and in the midst of a small group, near Moyne Abbey, 

 was a bird exhibiting the red plumage of summer, a very unusual 

 sight in this locality, for out of the many hundreds of birds seen 

 here in summer I have observed only two or three birds in a 

 similar stage of plumage. The birds frequenting this western 

 coast are apparently all immature, too young to assume the 

 red breeding plumage. When at Bartragh on the 5th inst. I 

 saw fully one hundred Godwits on the shores of Bannros Island, 

 and all appeared in the light grey plumage. 



