ON THE BREEDING RANGE OF THE YELLOW
WAGTAIL IN IRELAND.
By Robert Warren.
The Yellow Wagtail, Motacilla raii (according to Yarrell and H. Saunders), is generally distributed as a breeding species throughout England and Wales in all suitable localities. In Ireland it is a remarkable fact that, as far as at present known, the breeding range of this species is restricted within the very limited areas of the shores and islands of four lakes (Loughs Neagh, Carra, Mask, and Corrib); though once, according to Mr. E. Williams of Dublin, a pair bred a few miles from that city. Up to the date of the publication of William Thompson's 'Birds of Ireland' (1849–1851) this bird was only known to breed on the shores of Lough Neagh[1] and Derrywarragh Island; and in his appendix to the third volume the author mentions "visiting, on May 4th, 1850, in company of his friend Mr. Garrett, the Wagtails' breeding haunts on Derrywarragh, where they saw not less than forty of them; in one little piece of pasture three pairs appeared within twenty-five yards of each other, and three or four birds were frequently seen only a few feet apart on the ground, or on wing at the same moment."[2]
Since then the late Lord Lilford found a nest on the shore of Lough Corrib, in Co. Galway; and Mr. W.H. Good, of Westport, Co. Mayo, informed me (in 1891) that he discovered them breeding on the shores and islands of Loughs Carra and Mask, in South Mayo; but it was not until June, 1893, that, in company of my friend Mr. W. Williams, of Dublin, when visiting Lough Carra, that I had the pleasure of seeing and hearing the Yellow Wagtail in its breeding haunt. We had walked from Ballinrobe to the bridge at the end of the lake, and, while watching some Terns fishing, Mr. Williams suddenly exclaimed, "I hear the calls of a Yellow Wagtail"; and shortly after we saw a female with food in her bill, standing on a tall thistle in an oat-field alongside the
