Page:The Natural History of Ireland vol1.djvu/55

 cularly abundant, owing, it was presumed, to the prey being easily captured in its shallow water : in the course of the forenoon he had seen fifteen or sixteen in that locality, where, too, the thickly wooded banks afforded them suitable resting-places. Mr. Evatt, of Mount Louise, Monaghan, has informed me, that during a sporting tour in Canada, he was made aware, as night approached, of the abundance of basse, at the mouth of the Grand River, by ospreys dashing down, and bearing them off to the woods. This was the signal for the commencement of his fishing.

The Prince of Canino considers the American osprey distinct from the European, but the general opinion of ornithologists seems rather opposed to that view.

Falco gyrfalco, Lin.

Islandicus, Briss.

we know of it, is what Mr. Templeton has stated under " Jer Falcon;" — that in 1803 he received the skin of a bird of this species, which had been shot near Randalstown, county of Antrim. Bat as the term Jer Falcon, according to Mr. Hancock's views, has been applied indiscriminately to two species, we cannot, in the absence of a description, tell to which of them Mr. Tem- pleton's bird belonged.

Falco candicans, Gmel. Lin.

Groenlandicus, Turt. Linn.

a letter from John Vandeleur Stewart, Esq., of Rockhill, Letterkenny, dated Feb. 3, 1837, I was favoured with a minute