DUBUN NATUBAL HI8T0BT SOCIETT. 85 



circumstances which favour the supposition that these birds occasionally 

 visit our shores in a truly wild state. It was shot on the 27th of Fe- 

 bruary, 1857, in Dundalk Bay, about a mile from the land, out of a flock 

 of six, by a tishemian in my emplo}Tncnt, who observed the swans flying 

 over the sea, and alighting on it. He then put off in a boat, and suc- 

 ceeded in getting within shot of the flock. AH the birds had, he said, 

 some bro^vn plumage. 



The fact of these birds being strong on the wing, and coming in 

 from seaward, does not look like birds reared on a lake or river. There 

 have been flocks seen in Belfast and Strangford Loughs each winter now 

 for three successive years, several individuals of which have been ap- 

 proached and shot like common wild swans ; and as several instances of 

 the occurrence of the mute swan wild in France and Belgium are given 

 by De Selys Longchamps, and Degland, Yarrell, too, admitting that 

 they occur wild in nearly every country of Europe, — I see no difficulty 

 in concluding that this species, like the two others, is at times impelled 

 by the severity of a northern winter to seek a milder climate on the more 

 temperate shores of the British islands. Nothing is more probable at 

 all events ; and although their wandering habits when half tame justify 

 suspicion and inquiry into the particulars of each case, there does not 

 seem to be any reason, when these favour the wild theory, why it should 

 not be accepted where there is so little difficulty in doing so. How- 

 ever, not being a very experienced ornithologist, I submit my views sub- 

 ject to correction. 



Mr. Andrews said that this specimen, so kindly presented to the So- 

 ciety, could not, under the circumstances given by Lord Clermont, be other- 

 wise received than as truly wild, — no records of the capture of the mute 

 swan ( Cygnus ohr), in the British islands admittedly wild, have been 

 given, but there was not any possibility of considering this as anything 

 but a visitor in a wild state. It appeared to be a bird of the first 

 year; and although from its large proportions it might bear some 

 aflinity to the Polish swan, yet there were sufficient characteristics to 

 separate it from Cygnm immutabilisy and to identify it as a yearling of 

 Color. 



Rev. Professor Haughton exhibited some specimens of plant stems, 

 found in the micaceous yellow sandstone beds of Herrj'lock, county of 

 Wexford, on the east shore of "Waterford Harbour. (Figures and descrip- 

 tions of these will be given postea.) 



The President observed that the stem of the grass tree of New Hol- 

 land (X hastilis) exhibited just such a section as that described, the 

 cross lines being formed by the bases of the old leaves, and the mid-axis 

 by the stem of the plant. He had also seen specimens of parasitic 

 plants, such as ivy, which might explain the other specimens exhibited, 

 in which the twining plant had become imbedded in the bark of its 

 support. 



