1915. 



Pattkx. — Eidcr-Diicks at /nts/iira/iull. 



seaboard of Ireland is coneerned the Eider -Duck can hardly 

 be regarded as a rare bird, but rather as one which appears 

 " in limited numbers," in other words what we are ac- 

 customed to call a " scarce visitor." Here again if the 

 evidence of the light -keeper be accurate it is not quite so easy 

 to decide that the bird is a scarce visitor, when sixty appear 

 together. However, this matter requires further personal 

 investigation carried out by a competent ornithologist. 

 Whether the Eider -Duck occurs as a regular annual visitor 

 in the vicinity of Rathlin is also a matter which 

 cannot be determined without further systematic investiga- 

 tion carried out over several successive seasons. We must 

 take, with caution, the islanders' statement that the bird 

 is not uncommon in spring and autumn round Rathlin 

 though, personalh', I see no reason to set it aside. The 

 evidence, so far as it goes, is useful, but quite insufficient 

 to put on permanent record. There remains, however, 

 an important question to be considered : ^^'ere these 

 Eider-Ducks, seen at Inishtrahull and Rathhn, Scotch 

 birds bred, say, in Islay, the nearest nesting-quarters to 

 Ireland ? Xot, by any means, necessarily so. On the 

 contrary, the two which came under my personal observa- 

 tion, judging from their marked tameness, and their juvenile 

 deportment, looked as if they belonged to Inishtrahull 

 or, at all events, had not wandered far from their place of 

 nativity. Furthermore the condition of the bones in 

 the head \\hich I obtained indicated marked immaturity, 

 the bird itself being probably not much beyond the stage 

 of a " flapper." On the other hand, these Eiders -Ducks of 

 tender age may have been wanderers, fatigued to a degree, 

 hence their apparent tameness. This idea I do not favour, 

 for having reached the shelter of the island and lia\ing 

 obtained plenty of food among the reefs, their fatigue would 

 pass off after a day or so. Hence fatigue " tameness " 

 could not keep possession of them for a week ; yet it has 

 been pointed out that on each occasion, on the several da3's 

 that they were seen, they were remarkably tame. It is 

 now an established fact that two pairs of Eider-Ducks have 

 been found breeding in Ireland ; and we have no evidence 



