334 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



than 120 dozen of Lapwings' eggs were gathered in a single day on a 

 certain Stewartry estate by the gamekeepers and their assistants. — Robert 

 Service (Maxwelltown, Dumfries). 



Ruddy Sheldrakes in Ireland.— The end of June and the beginning 

 of July last were marked by the occurrence of several Ruddy Sheldrakes in 

 flocks in Ireland, and one in Scotland. The ' Irish Sportsman ' of July 

 23rd contains information as to a flock of seven on the Co. Dublin coast, 

 two of which had reached Mr. Williams during the first week in July, as 

 he then informed me. In • The Zoologist ' for August (p. 811) Mr. Steele 

 Elliott mentions a Ruddy Sheldrake, which was shot towards the end of 

 June out of a flock of twenty in Co. Donegal. On the 25th July, 

 Mr. Levinge, of Knockdrin Castle, Co. Westmeath, wrote to tell me that 

 there were two strange birds on a neighbouring lake, and, on consulting 

 Yarrells ' British Birds,' he subsequently told me that they were " un- 

 doubtedly Ruddy Sheldrakes." We learn, from ' The Field' of Aug. 6th, 

 that six or eight of this species took up their quarters in July in a small 

 bay west of the village of Findhorn, on the Moray Firth, and that one of 

 them was shot. Referring to ' The Zoologist,' 1887, p. 25, we find that in 

 June and July, 1886, three separate parties of Ruddy Sheldrakes occurred 

 at ivinsale, near Banteer, in the north of Co. Cork, and on the Shannon. 

 Earlier occurrences of this species in Ireland took place in Co. Wicklow, 

 July, 1847 ; in Co. Kerry, August 17th, 1^69 ; and in Co. Waterford, 

 March, 1892. Such repeated appearances of the Ruddy Sheldrake in 

 summer, simultaneously in different places in 1886 and 1892, and in 

 flocks, seem to preclude the idea of their being all escaped birds, and to 

 indicate that this species occasionally migrates at that season to the British 

 Isles. As its breeding range lies so lar south as the basins of the Medi- 

 terranean and Euxiue, and Central Asia, these summer visits need not 

 astonish us so much as would be the case with other Anseres that go much 

 further north to breed. With reference to the flock of supposed Wild 

 Geese in Westmeath, mentioned by Mrs. Battersby (p. 310), Col. Malone, 

 who saw them, writes to me: — "The keeper and I were on the lake 

 (Lough Iron) about 11.30, on the 4th July, when I saw a large flock of 

 birds coming towards the lake from the east. They came on to within 150 

 or 200 yards of us, when they wheeled and flew off in a northerly direction ; 

 they were flying rather low, about seventy yards, I should say, from the 

 ground. I thought they looked to have slightly shorter necks than the 

 geese one usually sees, and were a little darker in plumage. They made a 

 cry that reminded me oi the large horse gull (Lesser Black-back). There 

 were either forty-seven or forty- eight of them. They were the same size 

 as the geese one sees in winter." Mr. II. L. Jameson informs me that on 

 the morning of the 31st July six or seven supposed Wild Geese were seen 

 flying south-west by John Hanlon, farmer, of Drumbauagher, Co. Armagh. 



