ON THE COAST OF CONNATJGHT. 369 



none there, and it was not until I was twenty miles from it, on my 

 way to Ballina, that I saw two. Mr. Moran, at Belmullet, told me 

 that Choughs are quite common on the northern coast, and that 

 Herons breed in the cliffs. 



On my journey to Ballina I saw the few birds characteristic 

 of the western region, with Reed Buntings and a Dipper, Rooks 

 being very scarce until I got off the moorland into cultivated 

 ground, when they increased, and I saw Swallows, Thrushes, 

 Willow Warbler, Chaffinch, and in the town of Crossmalina there 

 were many Swifts. In Ballina I saw House Martins. I did not 

 see a Greenfinch in Connaught, nor a Chaffinch, until I reached 

 Crossmalina. Corn Buntings I only met with in Arran, but the 

 Whitethroat was seen near Broadstone and Clifden, in Con- 

 nemara, as well as Crossmalina, in Mayo. 



When at Ballina, on June 15th, I was taken by Mr. Warren, 

 of Moyview, to Rathroogeen Lake, the only known breeding-place 

 of the Sandwich Tern in Ireland. Before we approached the 

 lake we saw many of these fine birds flying to and from the 

 sea, along with numberless Black-headed Gulls, of which there is 

 a vast colony on this lake. The nests of the latter, with eggs 

 and young, were thickly scattered among the beds of rushes on 

 the margins. Great numbers of " flappers," young Wild Ducks 

 and Teal, were on the water among the reeds. There were also 

 flocks of Redshanks, and the anxiety of one led us to discover 

 her young in down. But I was not satisfied until I had got upon 

 an island in the centre of the lake, which is the citadel of the 

 Sandwich Terns ; this is surrounded by a fringe of bushes and 

 low trees. Within this I found a zone of tall nettles, among 

 which many Black-headed Gulls had young ones. In the centre 

 of the island is a bare spot of no great extent, which was strewn 

 with the eggs and young of the Sandwich Tern. As most of the 

 eggs were single and very dirty I concluded they were addled. 

 In some nests were two clean eggs that looked fresh, and in one 

 nest three eggs. In other nests one young bird, newly hatched, 

 squatted beside its brother egg, its coat lying close on it. The 

 Terns' nests were scarcely distinguishable from the quantities of 

 similar materials— bits of dead reed — which covered the ground. 

 I took no eggs, out of respect to the wishes of Sir Charles Knox 

 Gore, to whose preservation of the place the well being of this 

 enormous bird-colony is due. 



