100 
ANATIDiE. 
springs in the sea, off the Gobbins, northward of Belfast Bay, 
that in the very early morning, soon after daybreak, they have, 
on the calm water, been mistaken for drift-timber, and the people 
have gone off in their boats to obtain it. Mr. J. Watters, jun., 
informs me that, during the night, he hears great flocks of wild- 
fowl pass over the house in which he lives (in Crow-street), in the 
midst of the city of Dublin, particularly early in winter and 
spring. Between ten and eleven o'clock, on the night of the 
20th March, 1850, flocks of wigeon continued to pass over for 
nearly three-quarters of an hour, the loud clear calls of which 
afforded evidence of their species. In the demesne at Caledon, 
I saw a flock of about a hundred birds on the 23rd of March, 
1850, many of which were adult males. So late as the 12th of 
April, 1850, fifteen wigeon were killed at a shot from a swivel- 
gun on Larne Lough. 
Bronx the preceding notes it appears that the wigeon regularly 
comes earlier to the north of Ireland, and occasionally remains 
later, than on the Northumbrian coast. Mr. Selby informs us 
that “ they usually make their first appearance in this county 
about the 20th day of September, in small companies, which are 
on the gradual increase till about the beginning of November, 
when the migration appears to be completed.* Early in March 
they again commence their polar movement, or return to summer 
quarters : and, by the month of April, the coast is entirely de- 
serted" (p. 325). 
Belfast Bay ; — different modes of shooting in, Sfc. 
The wigeon, where not disturbed, feeds much during the day : 
but it is regarded here, by the three most experienced wild-fowl 
shooters, two of whom have made a trade of wigeon-shooting 
for above twenty years, as essentially a night-feeding bird. They 
* Mr. St. John remarks : — “ The earliest day on which I ever killed or saw 
wigeon in Morayshire, was on the 8th of September, on which day I shot a brace. 
* * * The flock altogether consisted of eight or nine.” — ‘ Tour in Sutherland, 5 
vol. i. p. 286. 
In another place (vol. ii. p. 22) this date is mentioned as “ a month before their 
usual time of arrival. 55 
