THE BIRDS OF DONEGAL. 423 



* Woodcock, Scolapax rusticola, Linn. — Woodcocks remain to 

 breed in most parts of Donegal. At Ards, Rathmullan, Glenalla, 

 and Carrablagh, I have known their nests. In this county Wood- 

 cocks are scarcer in winter than they were twenty years ago. 

 Places that afforded a couple of good days' shooting then, are 

 now not worth beating for one. I sent a note to ' The Zoologist' 

 in 1889 of my observation of the parent bird carrying a young one 

 in its feet. Mr. Brooke has obtained their eggs from Lough Eske, 

 where a few breed annually. " They are plentiful on the moors 

 near the sea on the west coast at the beginning of December, 

 though they begin to arrive at the end of October. Sometimes 

 they are plentiful in February in similar situations, as if on their 

 return journey from more inland places " (A. B.). 



*Common Snipe, Gallinago media. Leach. — Common in winter, 

 a small proportion remaining to breed in various places. 



Jack Snipe, G. gallinula, Linn. — Usually, I believe, less 

 common than the last species; apparently not so in several parts 

 of Donegal. Never remains to breed. In Fanet, in winter, more 

 numerous than Common Snipe. 



Curlew, Numenius arquata, Linn. — Abundant in winter. 

 Breeds perhaps in some of the remote Donegal mountains, as at 

 Muckish and in the Bluestack Mountains near Barnesmore. Mr. 

 Brooke, however, has never met with them breeding in Donegal. 



Whimbrel, N. ph&opus, Linn. — Frequent along the open 

 coast in spring and autumn. Lord Leitrim informs me that 

 many remain throughout the summer about Downing's Bay, and 

 the keeper at Fanet lighthouse has shot Whimbrels near Rinboy 

 Point, in Fanet, in July and August. 



*Common Heron, Ardea cinerea, Linn. — A well-known bird. 

 There are heronries at Fahan, Ards, Raphoe, Kilderry. A 

 small heronry formerly existed at Greenfort, Fanet. A pair of 

 Herons bred at Glenalla, in 1887. In the hard winter of 1881 a 

 number of Herons were found dead about the heronry at Kilderry, 

 either starved or frozen to death in their nests when they went 

 to roost. This heronry was thus decimated, but has since 

 recovered. A few pairs have bred for many years on an island in 

 Lough Eske on some very low trees. Rooks also built in these 

 trees. I heard last year (1890) that the Herons had left. They 

 breed at Mr. Carre's, of Inver, and a pair last year built at Bonny 

 Glen (near Inver). 



