94 



The Irish Naturalist. 



May, 



magnum opus in the form of a " Dictionary," in despair of the possibility 

 of any better arrangement than the alphabetical one being attainable 

 in the present state of ornithological knowledge. 



One hundred and forty-nine birds that have straggled to these islands 

 on occasions numbering less than twenty for each species are included 

 in the List as " rare visitors." Those of special interest for Ireland arc 

 the Greenland Redpoll, Eastern Sky-Lark {Alauda arvensis cinerascens), 

 Crested Lark (whose supposed Irish occurrence is considered doubtful), 

 Short-toed Lark, Rufous Warbler, Pallas's Grasshopper -Warbler, 

 Melodious Warbler, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Yellow -billed Cuckoo, Black - 

 billed Cuckoo (the place of whose only occurrence in the British Isles — 

 Killead, Co. Antrim — is wrongly named Kilbead), Griffon Vultun\ Spotted 

 Eagle, Lesser Kestrel, Greater Snow-Goose {CJien hyperborcus nivalis), 

 Hooded Merganser, _ Collared Pratincole (Irish occurrence counted doubt- 

 ful), Bonaparte's Sandpiper (ditto), Buff -Breasted Sandpiper, Bartram's 

 Sandpiper, Spotted Sandpiper, Eskimo Curlew, American Cxoldcn Plover, 

 Sociable Plover, Bonaparte's Gull, W^hite-winged Black Tern, Wilson's 

 Petrel, and Cape Pigeon — the last being included with a doubt which 

 Irish naturalists will regard as somewhat rriore than justified. 



Reported stragglers which are not held entitled to a place in the List 

 are relegated to an Appendix, in which will be found such a miscellaneous 

 gathering as the American Goldfinch shot in Achill in 1894, the Slate - 

 coloured Junco killed at Loop Head in 1905, and the well-known Irish 

 records of the American Robin, Blue Rock-Thrush, Cape Bulbul, Purple 

 Martin, Belted Kingfisher, American Goshawk, Black-winged Kite, 

 Canadian Crane, Swift Tern, and Noddy. Several of these ha\e long 

 been refused even bracketed mention in Irish lists, an error in one case, 

 and a trick in another, having been plainly acknowledged. It was, 

 therefore, carrying the right of arbitrary exclusion to excess — unless, 

 indeed, an oversight has occurred — to ignore altogether, both in the main 

 List and in the Appendix — the case of the Sheathbill [Ckionis alba) shot 

 on Carlingford Lough on December 2nd, 1892. Whatever the true 

 history of this bird, its occurrence in good plumage on the Down coast 

 was at least of equal interest with that of the American Goldfinch — in 

 frayed plumage — on Achill Island, to which Mr. L'ssher thought it un- 

 advisable (perhaps wrongly) to make any reference in his " List of Irish 

 Birds." 



There are a few points in which the references to Irish ornithologv 

 are slightly misleading, and in this connection I would hke to mention 

 my indebtedness to ]Mr. Nevin H. Foster for having drawn my attention 

 to several statements that call for comment. One is the reference to 

 Redstart breeding in this country " in Cos. Wicklow and Tyrone." It 

 is to be feared that this is a statement of very doubtful accuracy at present 

 as regards either county. At any rate, ^Ir. Foster assures me that the 

 birds have not been seen in their Tyrone breeding place for several years, 

 and I have it from another informant who made careful local inquiries on 

 the matter that tlie once well-known Wicklow breedin.iif-station has been 

 equally neglected. 



