including species new to that of Britain. 311 



Cachalot does not in my opinion admit of doubt. In Templeton's 

 • Catalogue of the Vertebrate Animals of Ireland,' the Physeter tursio 

 is noticed, but merely in the following words : — " Thrown ashore on 

 the western coast occasionally." 



Birds. 

 The White Wagtail, Motacilla alba, Linn., Gould ; Yarrell, Brit. 

 Birds, Supp. p. 22, 



is included on the following testimony of Mr. R. Ball. In a letter 

 to me dated Dublin, June 19, 1846, it was stated, that a few days 

 before, when at Roundwood, he had seen a specimen of the true 

 Motacilla alba as distinguished from M. Yarrellii. It was remarked : 

 — " We watched it for some time, though at a short distance from 

 us, with a small telescope used for such purposes ; its beautiful plu- 

 mage was very distinct from that of the common species, and its 

 habit much more sedate than is usual with Wagtails : it ' wagged ' 

 but little, and walked about demurely. — I am quite sure that I 

 have often seen the species before." As the bird was not actually 

 obtained, its occurrence would not be inserted here without my 

 having perfect reliance on the knowledge and acute observation of 

 my informant. 



Bonaparte's Sandpiper ? 



Schinz's Sandpiper, Eyton, Gould, Yarr. 



Tringa Bonapartei, Schlegel, Rev. Crit. Oiseaux Eur. p. 89*. 



Tringa Schinzii, Bonap. 

 is believed on circumstantial evidence to have been once obtained in 

 Ireland. 



In the Belfast museum there is a specimen of this bird, respecting 

 which positive information cannot now be obtained, but it is consi- 

 dered to have been shot in the bay here from the circumstance of its 

 having been preserved in a manner peculiar to a taxidermist who set 

 up a fresh " sandpiper " (as it is called in his book) for the collec- 

 tion in the spring of 1 836, which, all circumstances considered, was 

 most probably this bird — he never set up any Tringa from dried 

 skins. I have compared the specimen with the American one de- 

 scribed and figured by Mr. Yarrell, and found it quite identical in 

 species : this is the individual noticed in the second edition of this 

 author's ' British Birds,' vol. iii. p. 74. 



Only one of these birds, recorded by Mr. Eyton as killed in Shrop- 

 shire, has been obtained in Great Britain. Its occurrence on the 

 continent of Europe is not noticed in the latest works that I have 

 seen (Temminck, part 4 ; Keyserling and Blasius ; Schlegel). North 

 America is its native country. 



Purple Waterhen, Porphyrio hyacinthinus, Temm. 

 A communication from Richard Chute, Esq. of Blennerville, county 



* This name is given to the species on account of Brehra having bestowed 

 the same name on a different Tringa.' 



