176 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



THE BIRDS OF N.W. WALES AND THE OPPOSITE 

 COUNTIES OF IRELAND. 



By H. E. Forrest. 



In ' The Zoologist ' for 1902, p. 17, Mr. Aplin compared the 

 avifauna of Bardsey and Lambay islands, situated nearly oppo- 

 site one another on the Welsh and Irish coasts respectively, and 

 concluded that, with certain exceptions, the two were similar. 

 On reading this paper it occurred to me that a comparison of the 

 birds of Western Wales with those of the opposite coast of Ireland 

 might prove interesting. Having been engaged for some years 

 in collecting materials for a work on the Vertebrates of North 

 Wales, I had ample details regarding Merioneth, Carnarvon, and 

 Anglesey, whilst Irish records might be compiled from the ' Birds 

 of Ireland.' 



A glance at the map showed that the Irish counties opposite 

 our Welsh district were Dublin, Wicklow, and part of Wexford ; 

 but as the isothermal lines in Ireland are further north than in 

 Wales, it seemed that the comparison would be fairer if Wexford 

 were omitted, although by so doing we should eliminate the 

 district most favoured by migrants on arrival in Ireland. 



This paper then deals, on the one hand, with the counties of 

 Merioneth, Carnarvon, and Anglesey (=W.), and on the other 

 with those of Wicklow and Dublin (=1.). It is confined to a 

 brief statement of facts, and does not attempt to account for the 

 many surprising differences in the respective avifaunas. As 

 regards the statements themselves, the Welsh are derived from 

 my own note-books, and are the outcome of notes contributed 

 by nearly one hundred observers, to whom I render my sincere 

 thanks. The Irish are abstracted from the ' Birds of Ireland,' 

 and have been kindly revised by Mr. R. J. Ussher. It is fitting 

 that acknowledgment should be made of the valuable services 

 rendered to Irish ornithology by Mr. R. M. Barrington, who, by 

 long-continued observations conducted at his own expense at all 

 the principal Irish lighthouses, has amassed and reduced to order 



