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ASIATIC SKY-LARK ON MIGRATION OBTAINED AT 

 THE TUSKAR ROCK LIGHT-STATION. 



By Prof. C. J. Patten, M.A., M.D., Sc.D. 



In the ' Irish Naturalist,' March, 1912, vol. xxi. pp. 49-51, I 



mentioned that I obtained a strange species of Sky-Lark, then 

 unknown to Ireland. From the first I surmised that it was a 

 different species from our Common Sky-Lark, and not merely a 

 light variety of the latter. I felt convinced that it was either 

 the Southern (Mediterranean) or the Eastern (Asiatic) Sky- 

 Lark, and, for reasons which I shall give presently, pro- 

 visionally designated it the former. Before, however, touching 

 on this point, I shall briefly indicate the circumstances under 

 which it was procured, for, excepting the date of its capture, 

 I have recorded nothing in my previous communication. On 

 Thursday, October 5th, 1911, at 11 a.m., having spent more 

 than two hours searching for dead or wounded birds amid the 

 rock- crevices, I went out on the roof of the dwelling-house of 

 Tuskar Light- Station, and there found two Sky-Larks. From 

 the shrunken conditions of the eyes, and from other post-mortem 

 features unnecessary to detail here, it was evident that the 

 birds had been dead a few days, and inasmuch as no birds, save 

 one Blackbird, were seen at the lantern since October 1st — the 

 weather conditions being unfavourable for alluring migrants to 

 the rays — it is well-nigh certain that these two Larks met their 

 fate on the night of October 1st, probably by striking the lantern- 

 glass, at the same time that great numbers of other Larks, as 

 well as Blackbirds, Song-Thrushes, Starlings, Wheatears, Gold- 

 crests, Redstarts (and probably several other species not identi- 

 fied), held up by adverse weather, gathered round the lantern, 

 soon forming a huge fraternity. Larks were most numerous : 

 numbers killed themselves outright either by striking the glass, 

 the balcony-rails, or other part of the lantern framework. 

 I picked up thirty-nine specimens, which afforded me most 

 useful material in making comparisons. Thrushes, Blackbirds, 

 Starlings, and Goldcrests appeared also in considerable numbers, 



