NOTES FKOM MAYO. 213 



severe weather, although I was constantly on the look out for 

 such visitors, and frequently on the water punt-shooting in the 

 estuary, I had ample opportunities for seeing any that might 

 appear. On one day I saw a little party of eight Scaup Ducks 

 near Killanley, and knocked down six out of the number, but 

 owing to my cripple- stopper missing fire, two cripples got off. The 

 four secured were all young males in first year's plumage, with 

 the broad white patch on forehead, and the only trace of male 

 plumage was a few of the grey wavey feathers appearing on the 

 back, some scarcely visible. Sheldrakes were more numerous 

 than usual; a flock of between thirty-five and forty haunted 

 the sands all the winter, but most of these have now left, there 

 being only three or four pairs remaining to breed in the Bartragh 

 and Enniscrone sand-hills. Curlews were in great numbers, but 

 few were shot, in consequence of deserting some of their old 

 resting-places, having been so disturbed by the small-gun 

 shooters; however, I obtained some fair shots, one of sixteen 

 birds on the bank near the island of Baunros, and another of 

 eighteen on the bank near Eosserk Abbey ; on both occasions a 

 little after daybreak. 



One of the most extraordinary and interesting sights of the 

 season was the immense congregation of Green Cormorants that 

 used to assemble for some weeks in December and January on 

 the lower part of the river, where it runs outside the bay, just 

 inside the "bar." Here, after fishing, many hundreds — up to 

 two thousand — birds used to rest at low-water on the sands at 

 both sides of the channel ; and when this great flock used to rise 

 on the wing at the approach of a punt or boat, the sight was most 

 bewildering and confusing, for nothing could be seen but this 

 mass of dark forms circling round and crossing and recrossing 

 in all directions over the punt until they all had satisfied their 

 curiosity by a good look at the boat and its occupant. Where 

 this immense gathering of Cormorants could have come from 

 I cannot imagine, for I never before saw a larger number than 

 one or two hundred birds resting on the sands either at the Moy 

 or Killala bars, and nothing like the numbers could have been 

 bred on this line of coast. The only explanation I can suggest 

 is that a great part of them had shifted their quarters along the 

 coast from the more northern bays and inlets. 



