82 



The Irish Naiuralisl. 



May, 



and Dr. Hartcrt's works the following notes on this dnck 

 appeared in the Irish Naiuralist : — 



An Eider Duck obtained at ]\Ialahidc, Co. Dublin 

 in November, 1902 (E. \\^ilhams in vol. xii., April, 

 1903, p. 112). 



Two obtained in Belfast Lough, on August 19th. 1905 

 (R. Llovd Patterson in vol. xiv., No\'embcr, 1905, 



p. 248).' 



The records published since Dr. Hartert's book 

 appeared, though not man\", are highly interesting. 

 For instance we learn, for the first time, of the 

 nesting of the Eider -Duck in Ireland. In regard 

 to this highly important discovery the following data 

 ha\-e been supplied by ^Ir. H. ^^^ Robinson, in "British 

 Birds," vol. vi., 1912-13, p. 106. Two nests were found 

 on a small island off the coast of Co. Down (corrected to 

 Co. Donegal on p. 166), on June 2nd, 1912, and the two 

 pairs of birds were seen. The nests were placed at either 

 ext remit}' of the island three-quarters of a mile apart. 



On November 12th, 1912, an Eider-Duck was obtained 

 in Wexford Harbour, being only the third record from this 

 county, the previous two being in 1834, i^"^ iSj^ (A. R. 

 Nichols in the Irish Naiuralist, vol. xxii., January, 1913, 

 p. 20.) 



In the autumn of 191 3. several Eider -Ducks appealed 

 on different occasions round Rathlin as recorded 

 by Miss Best and ]\Iiss Haviland, in the Irish Naturalist, 

 vol. xxiii., January, 1914, p. 12. The first four were seen 

 much about the same time that I observed the two at 

 Inishtrahull. The actual data are as follows : — " Four 

 ducks were noticed swimming off Church Bay on Sep- 

 tember 17th and 19th, and were then joined b\' a drake. 

 On the 20th three birds were shot and the others disappeared. 

 On October ist, however, four more ducks were seen at the 

 same place." The islanders say that the species " is not 

 uncommon in the spring and autumn round Rathlin. The 

 lighthouse-keepers say that as many as fifty or sixty are 

 seen together at once." Rc\iewing the statistics which I 

 have furnished, it seems that as far as the north-eastern 



