114 REPORT ON THE MIGRATION OF BIRDS. 



coasts. In Ireland it is very rare inland, especially in the 

 southern half. 



The Lapland Bunting has already been referred to. It was 

 found dead October 16th on the Fastnet Bock, and was for- 

 warded in the flesh. It is a female, and probably of European 

 origin, and is the first Irish record. 



" Mountain Finches " were reported from the Skelligs in 

 November 1886 ; but, with this exception, no Bramblings were 

 mentioned in the schedules until 1887, and the Siskin appears 

 for the first time, both species being authenticated by specimens. 

 The distribution of some volumes of Morris' " British Birds " has 

 probably assisted in their identification, combined with infor- 

 mation received in reply to parcels of legs and wings forwarded. 

 Yet there can be no doubt 1887 was remarkable for the number 

 of Bramblings and Siskins which visited Ireland. The data 

 from light stations is too scanty to speak positively ; but, unlike 

 the Snow Bunting, the Brambling and Siskin seem to have no 

 preference for the N. and N.W. coasts. " Linnets " is a term 

 which has appeared in reports from the commencement. It 

 occasionally includes, there is little doubt, other birds besides 

 the Grey Linnet. Not a single leg or wing of the Grey Linnet 

 has yet been received. The Bullfinch is seldom alluded to, and 

 so far — using only the Irish migration reports — there is little 

 or no evidence that it migrates at all. 



In 1884 an extraordinary movement of Books from W. to E. 

 was observed at the Tearaght and Skelligs in November; it 

 lasted about three weeks. In 1887, about the same time, a 

 similar occurrence is mentioned at the same stations. They 

 are twenty miles apart, and both about nine miles from shore. 

 There is no land to the westward nearer than America. On 

 both occasions the birds are said to have appeared tired. On 

 April 12th, a Hoopoe was shot at Eagle Island, E. (Mr Daniel 

 Hawkins), off Mayo, and forwarded in the flesh. 



From Blackrock (Mayo), Mr Edward Bohu forwarded a 

 Turtle Dove — a rare and unexpected visitor in such a locality. 

 From the Tearaght, Co. Kerry (Mr F. By an), the skin of a 

 Spotted Crake — very rare in Ireland — was sent. Bird caught 

 August 21st. 



Between November 8th and 19th the Water Bail occurred at 

 several stations all round Ireland, except on the W. coast, and in 



