AUG 25 m 
June, 19 16. The Irish Naturalist. 85 
FRAGMENTARY REMAINS OF A TREE-PIPIT FOUND 
ON TUSKAR ROCK. 
by professor c. j. patten, m.a.. m.d., sc.d. 
Introductory. 
A FEW days after I first landed on Tuskar Rock light- 
station in September, 191 1, T discovered that, in addition 
to collecting on the balcony birds which struck the lantern, 
it was very important to make a thorough search on the 
rock for dead, wounded, or exhausted specimens, with 
a view of obtaining the fullest possible data for my 
researches in bird-migration. Moreover, I found that it 
was not by any means sufficient to pick up only fresh and 
complete specimens lying about the rock on more or less 
exposed sites ; it was necessary to examine most carefully : 
[a) all nooks, crevices, and outhouses, into which wounded 
or exhausted birds might have crept and died ; [h) masses 
of sea-weeds and debris, carried at intervals by high winds 
from one part of the rock to the other, and in which dead 
birds might have become imbedded ; [c) rock-pools into 
which wounded birds might have fallen and subsequently 
have been drowned, or into which dead birds falling from 
the lantern might have dropped or have been washed in 
by the wind ; [d) the roofs of the dwelling-house and 
other elevated sites above the rock but below the balcony 
of the tower, on which birds which had struck the lantern 
might have fallen, and lastly {e) the dome of the lantern 
on which might have fallen birds which had collided with 
the most elevated structures, such as the weather-cock, 
fog-explosive apparatus, or the lightning conductor.^ The 
results of such a thorough and systematic search soon 
revealed to me the fact that, in addition to good, fresh, and 
complete specimens, one could find numbers of birds in all 
sorts of conditions, such as : {a) mummies, that is to say 
birds which had fallen on dry places, and which, escaping 
( ' ) These are all situated above the roof or dome of the lantern. 
