Quail in Co. TyroneAuthor(s): G. GillespieSource: The Irish Naturalists' Journal, Vol. 8, No. 9 (Jan., 1946), p. 335Published by: Irish Naturalists' Journal Ltd.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25533412 .

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January, 1946.] The Irish Naturalists'Journal. 335

which may possibly have been a fresh arrival as it was never so wild

nor restless as those seen on previous dates. Of the three, two w^ere in (transition plumage, still retaining much

of the dark summer-plumage on the head, neck, upper-parts and

breast. On many occasions I had excellent opportunity to warton the birds

at close range. On 17ith August, twenty minutes after sunset, I heard a Greenshank,

Tringa nebularia (Gunner), calling as it flew rapidly from north to

south over Lough Carra. On 21sit August three Greenshanks were

feeding in a bay on the western side of the lake and on the following

day there were four. From 22nd August two were present unitil 13th September, after

which one remained until 14th. In British Birds, vol. XXXVII, p. 160, I gave for Lough Carra three

occurrences, in August and September, 1943, of this bird which only

occasionally wanders to our inland waters.

Cloonee, Ballinrobe, Go. Mayo. ROBERT F. RUTTLEDGE.

CURLEW-SANDPIPERS IN CO. GALWAY.

On 2nd October, 1945, I came upon two Curlew -Sandpipers, Calidris testacea (Pall.) amongst a large concourse of Dunlin and Ringed

Plover at Loch Ruisin, a tidal lagoon a little to the west of Galway

city. When crossing the sand and ooze a Dunlin-like bird flew over

me and luckily uttered the characteristic liquid "

Unrip "

of the

Curlew-Sandpiper. Noticing where it pitched I worked up to it and found the bird with another of the same species amongst Dunlin and

Ringed Plover. Unable to obtain a satisfactory view in flight (in order to confirm my identification of the mote), as they rose with the mass

of other birds I followed these up. I was then able to pick out the two birds as they fed on the edge of the Dunlin throng. They were

rather larger, greyer in colour and, in this case, had noticeably longer and more curved bills than the Dunlin. Latecr I put them up

and had a clear view of the diagnostic white upper tail-coverts. The two birds kept together in flight and also when feeding each time

they alighted. Had that bird not called in passing me I might very well have

missed these Curlew-Sandpipers amongst the numerous Dunlin for

they flew hack to ground I had already covered. Just luck!

Ussher had only one record, and that a doubtful one, for Co.

Galway (Birds of Ireland, p. 287), a record which I think it would be most unsafe to admit in the case of a bird requiring full evidence of identification in the field. The monith too?July?^seems most unusual for a bird which visits our west coast so rarely.

Cloonee, Ballinrohe, Co. Mayo. ROBERT F. RUTTLEDGE.

QUAIL IN GO. TYRONE.

A Quail called all day till 10.30 p.m. in a grass-seed field just over the garden hedge on 2nd June, 1945. I did not hear it again, but I have a circum standi a 1 report of it being heard a few miles away

on one occasion since.

Ballygawley, Co. Tyrone. G. GILLESPIE, M.B.

AN OLD RECORD FOR AN IRISH SNAKE.

The dilapidated remains of a *-nake bearing the following inscrip tion has recently been acquired by the National Museum. The

inscription, which is on the back of a visiting card of "

Lord Walter

Fitzgerald, Kilkea Gas-tie "

[Go. Kildare], reads as follows:?" Ah

Adder killed by John Ryan, of Castledercnot, on the public road at

Ballynure Church, Go. Wicklow, on 4th September, 1903. Length 3 feet."

Needless to say, the specimen is a Grass Sna&e and .not an Adder.

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