File:A guide to Belfast and the counties of Down and Antrim (1902) (14592767608).jpg

Identifier: guidetobelfastco00belf (find matches)
Title: A guide to Belfast and the counties of Down & Antrim
Year: 1902 (1900s)
Authors: Belfast Naturalists' Field Club
Subjects: Natural history -- Northern Ireland Antrim Natural history -- Northern Ireland Down Belfast (Northern Ireland)
Publisher: Belfast : M'Caw, Stevenson & Orr, ltd.
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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ter. Richardsons Skua is rather morefrequent, and adult birds have frequently been obtained inautumn. Summer occurrences are rare, but two were shotin Belfast Lough, i June, 1863. Buffons Skua occursirregularly in autumn in small numbers : one was obtainedin May 1892 in a bog near Ballymoney, boih date andplace being most unusual. Alcse.—^Razorbills and ^Guillemots breed in countlessnumbers on Rathlin Island, and are very common in ourloughs in summer. In winter they are not often seen.Rarely found inland, H. D. M. Barton has recorded theRazorbill from Lough Neagh. The extinct Great Auk canonly be included in our list through the discovery by W. J.Knowles, of Ballymena, of a number of its bones in thekitchen-middens of Whitepark Bay, Co. Antrim. Fullparticulars will be found in the Froceedings of the RoyalIrish Academy, 3rd Series, vol. i. No. 5, p. 625; vol. iii,No. 4, p. 654; vol. vi. No. 3, p. 336. It would seem as if<jreat Auks must have been easily procurable by pre-historic
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Bones of Great Auk.Whiteiark Bay, Co. Antrim. 168 Guide to Belfast. man, and used for food, and the interesting question arisesas to the possibihty of ancient breeding-places havingexisted near Whitepark Bay. Professor Newton considersthat the Skerries, off Portrush, would have been a suitableplace ; and no doubt the gentle slopes of Church Bay, inRathlin, would have offered no difficulty to a flightless bird. The *Black (juillemot frequents our loughs in smallnumbers, and breeds on Rathlin, where it remains all theyear. The Little Auk is an uncommon straggler in winter,and is more frequently picked up inland after a storm thanobtained on the coast. It is considered rare in Strangford.The *Puffin breeds in very large numbers on Rathlin, and isfound in varying numbers in our loughs in late summerand early autumn. In winter it is almost unknown. Pygopodes.—The Great Northern Diver is found inlimited numbers in winter. The 8th August is the earliestdate R. Lloyd Patterson has seen this

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