ON THE COAST OF CONNAUGHT. 367 



occasions when south and west of Slyne Head ; they were large 

 brown birds, and we saw in one the pale colour round the neck 

 and hooked beak. They skimmed the sea with a flight more like 

 that of a Manx Shearwater than any other bird, but they flapped 

 their wings at least part of the time. We also passed Gannets, 

 adult and immature, and Manx Shearwaters. 



Clifden lies up a long, sinuous, sheltered harbour, with some 

 timber about it, and here we met with Jackdaws, Thrushes, and 

 Swifts. Broadstone was the only other place in Western Con- 

 naught where I saw Swifts, and there only did I meet with a few 

 Swallows, whose general absence was very remarkable. 



Leaving Clifden, and passing three high uninhabited islands, 

 where the sea was alive with Alcidce and Manx Shearwaters, we 

 came to Inishbofin, one of the most western islands of Connaught. 

 Owing to the numerous population and paucity of high cliffs, few 

 sea-birds breed there ; but on a group of high, semi-isolated 

 rocks, called the Stags, a number of Oystercatchers breed. The 

 land-birds I met with were characteristic of Western Connaught. 

 Wheatears, Rock Pipits, and Twites were common. Corn Crakes 

 were often heard, and I met with Wrens, Pied Wagtails, Yellow- 

 hammers, Hooded Crows, and Rock Doves in the interior of the 

 island, with Ringed Plovers, and, on some small lakes, Common 

 Sandpipers. I saw Choughs in several places, and was struck by 

 their tameness. Their only breeding-place which I saw was a 

 horizontal fissure in an overhanging cliff that formed the side of 

 a remarkable chasm in the land on the north side of the island. 

 The sea occupied the bottom of this chasm. It was as though 

 the roof of a deep sea-cave had been removed from its central 

 portion, leaving the mouth and inner portion intact. On Inish- 

 bofin I was struck by the absence of Thrushes, Blackbirds, 

 Finches, Swallows, Swifts, Rooks, and Jackdaws. 



On the 13th June we left Inishbofin, and made for Blacksod 

 Bay. We could see that there was a colony of Herring Gulls on 

 Inishturk. We hove to at the Bills, a group of lofty rocks 

 culminating at 124 feet, which lie several miles south of Achill 

 Head, exposed to the full sweep of the Atlantic, and which are 

 the chief breeding resort of sea-birds on this coast. Though the 

 day was beautiful, and the wind northerly, the swell of the sea 

 almost prevented us from landing, but having effected this on the 

 middle rock we beheld a wonderful scene. Above the lower cliffs, 



