Coward nor I have ever been able to see or hear the bird in Lleyn. I have also Mr. Coward's authority for saying that the record of Ray's Wagtail is doubtful. He has again referred to his notes, and he finds that he only included the bare name of this species in his list of birds seen at Abersoch in 1887, with no particulars; and that with regard to the Nevin bird in 1895, there is a note of interrogation against the name. In the light of our later investigations, we have therefore decided to strike the name out of the list.
Pennant, in his 'Tours in Wales,' mentions that the Rev. Hugh Davis, of Beaumorris, was witness to "a very uncommon wreck of sea-fowl" in 1776. He saw the beach near Criccieth for miles together covered with dead birds, especially those kinds which annually visit the rocks in summer, such as Puffins, Razorbills, Guillemots, and Kittiwakes; of the last there were many thousands. Other birds mentioned were Tarrocks [the Kittiwake in immature dress], Gannets, Wild Geese, Barnacles, Brent Geese, Scoters, and Tufted Ducks. The frost from Jan. 6th until Feb. 2nd in that winter had been very severe. In October, 1884, I saw thousands of Scoters off the Merioneth coast.
I do not think that Lleyn, as an ornithological district, should be considered to extend further east than about the mouth of the Afon Dwyfawr on the south, and perhaps the headland called Trwyn y Tâl on the north coast. Further east the country becomes more luxuriant and wooded on the south towards Criccieth, and more mountainous on the north. And at Tremadoc I have met with birds, such as the Blackcap and Pied Flycatcher, which belong to the avifauna of Eastern Carnarvon and Merioneth, but not to that of Lleyn, so far as I know. I have often wondered that the Sheld-drake does not breed among the sand-hills between Llanbedrogg Head and Penrhyn Du, but I have never seen it there. It may, however, turn up between Criccieth and Pwllheli. At and near Portmadoc I have seen pairs in the middle of May.
