312 Mr. W. Thompson's Additions to the Fauna of Ireland, 



of Kerry — a gentleman who has contributed much to our knowledge 

 of the birds of that part of Ireland — written on the 17th of March 

 1846, mentioned his having that day received for examination a 

 stuffed specimen of a bird which in a fresh state had been blown in 

 upon the coast near Brandon : — that it was of a species unknown as 

 British, and not described in any work to which he had access. A 

 detailed description of it was therefore sent that the writer might be 

 informed of its species. The dimensions of the different parts, and 

 the colour were so fully noted as to enable me at once to reply that 

 the bird must be the Porphyrio hyacinthinus. When in London some 

 time afterwards, I applied the description to a bird of this species in 

 the British Museum, and found a perfect agreement. 



It is unnecessary to repeat the dimensions of the bird, which was 

 of full adult size, but the description of the plumage may be given 

 as denoting its age : — the sex was not looked to in the preparation 

 of the specimen. " Head, throat, neck, breast, all the under parts, the 

 wing-feathers, and most of the wing- coverts are of a greenish purple, 

 throwing out different shades in the sun; indeed, the wings and 

 lower parts of the neck are more of a royal purple ; the throat and 

 about the eyes a greenish purple not unlike the colour of the tail of 

 a Kingfisher, but brighter ; — the back, shoulders, upper wing- coverts 

 and tail are of a bottle-green ; the under tail-coverts white. The 

 parts of the feathers all over the bird that are not exposed are of a 

 dark brown ; the edges of the green feathers have a very slight tinge 

 of purple. Bill, frontal plate and legs red." 



This beautiful species inhabits the south of Europe and north of 

 Africa : the most western locality noticed as inhabited by it in the 

 works of Temminck (vol. ii. p. 699, and vol. iv. p. 443) and Schlegel 

 (p. cii) is the island of Sardinia *. An isolated instance however of 

 an individual being procured in a marsh in Dauphiny is recorded in 

 the 4th part of Temminck's work — published in 1840. 



The bird obtained in Ireland was found about the first week of 

 November 1845, lying dead in a ditch near the village of Brandon, 

 which is on the sea-coast. It came under the inspection of Dr. Wil- 

 liams of Dingle in a recent state before being skinned for preser- 

 vation. The specimen was given to Capt. Clifford, Inspector of the 

 Coast Guard there, preserved and stuffed by one of the men under 

 his command, and subsequently presented to Mr. Chute. 



Fulmar Petrel, Procellaria glacialis, Linn. 



Among ornithological notes made by the Rev. Joseph Stopford — 

 a gentleman well-acquainted with our native birds — and communi- 

 cated to Dr. Harvey of Cork (by whom I have been favoured with 

 them) is one of a Fulmar having been shot at Inchidoney Island, on 

 the southern coast, in 1832 by Capt. Hungerford. It was sent to the 

 writer, by whom it was presented to Sir Charles Paget, then forming 

 a collection of birds at Cove. In January 1846, Mr. T. W. Warren 



* Information on the species is given in the \ Magazine of Zoology and 

 Botany,' vol. ii. p. 353. 



