82 THE ZOOLOGIST. 



be warm. I found no difficulty in making a first-class skin of 

 the bird, which, with other avian rarities collected by me, will, 

 in due course, be presented to the National Museum, Dublin. 



An examination of the body afforded evidence that the bird 

 was quite fresh when picked up, and was more than likely killed 

 by striking the lantern during the previous hours of darkness. 

 From the nature of the wounds, involving not only severe lesions 

 of the skull and brain, but also fracture of the sternum and 

 intra-thoracic haemmorrhage, death was evidently instantaneous, 

 and the bird, immediately on striking the lantern, no doubt 

 fell over the balcony down on to the rock. A tract of feathers, 

 extending along the left cheek and left side of the neck, was 

 knocked out, indicating that the bird did not collide of necessity 

 head on, but much more likely was carried sideways or obliquely 

 against some part of the lantern.* 



The condition of the body was very good, the muscles were 

 well developed, and much fat was present. The specimen 

 weighed three drams, thirteen grains, being proportionately as 

 heavy as were any well-nourished Sedge-Warblers which I have 

 obtained on their regular migrations past the Tuskar Light- 

 station. 



From the foregoing facts it is obvious that we cannot place 

 this bird in the category of a waif which had been perambulating 

 about on the rock in a half-starved condition for some days 

 before death overtook it and rid it of its miseries.! In other 

 words, it was not a bird which, becoming separated from its 

 companions, drifted about aimlessly until, fatigued or storm- 

 bound,:]: it sought refuge on a rock. The bird seems to have 



* By the term lantern I include all the parts besides the glass, e. g. hand- 

 rails, ladder, dome, balcony-rails, &c. On the different ways birds strike the 

 lantern, see my papers on " Grasshopper-Warblers on Migration " (' Irish 

 Naturalist,' August, 1912, p. 140) ; " Spotted Flycatchers on Migration " 

 (ibid. p. 197;; " Diurnal Migrations " (' Zoologist,' 1913, pp. 217, 218, 219). 



f On the other hand, an Icterine Warbler which I have recently 

 obtained from the Tuskar Eock comes under this category. 



| As a matter of fact, at the time that this Aquatic Warbler was picked 

 up, and during the previous hours of darkness, the wind, coming from the 

 west, only blew with the force of a gentle breeze, i. e. force 3, as registered 

 on the Beaufort scale. The weather condition was cloudy, with passing 

 showers. 



