12 PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 



Doctor Smith gave a clear detail of a malignant form of disease affecting the 

 meta-carpus of the red deer, and which probably caused the death of the animal, 

 as seen in a bone from Kerry, presented to him by William Andrews, Esq. This 

 peculiar disease affected the articulated extremities of bones, causing the ex- 

 pansion of the bone into a large kind of tumour. 



Mr. James Haughton wished to record the occurrence of the common Bittern, 

 Botaurus stellaris, in the County of Kildare and Queen's County. One was shot 

 in Dunmanway bog, near Mageney, by Mr. Moore, of the railway station, during 

 the severe frost in the beginning of January, and who saw another in the same 

 locality. Another was shot at in Ballyteigue bog, Queen's County. It is of 

 interest to record these birds in the country, as, from drainage and reclamation of 

 lands, they are becoming almost extinct in their haunts. 



Mr. O'Beilly exhibited branches of the hawthorn, having peculiar excrescences 

 on the young shoots. The general opinions offered were, that they were the pi'o- 

 duction of an insect, and not caused by fungoid growth. 



After ballot, the Reverend Joseph Galbraith, F.T.C.D., and Doctor Frazer, 

 Dublin, were declared elected ordinary members. 



The meeting then adjourned till the month of March. 



MARCH U, 1856. 



R. Callwell, Esq., M.R.I.A., in the Chair. 



The minutes of the preceding meeting having been read and signed, 



Mr. Andrews, Honorary Secretary, rose and said that it gave him much pleasure 

 to have to submit to the Society an interesting communication from one of their 

 members. Lord Clermont, accompanied by a valuable donation of birds for the 

 Museum of the Society, viz., a fine male specimen of the Egyptian goose (Ch. 

 -^gyptiacus), shot in Belfast Lough in 1853, being one of a flock of these birds 

 seemingly in a wild state ; a fine specimen of the black-tailed godwit (Limosa 

 melanura), and also of the male golden-eye in full plumage, obtained from Lough- 

 gill, Sligo, in 1850. Mr. Andrews then read the accompanying communication as 

 follows : — 



" Birds observed near Ravensdale Park, during the last 18 months — Peregrine 

 Falcon (Falco Peregrinus). A fine female shot near Armagh, in a populous dis- 

 trict, October, 1853. 



Spotted Flycatcher, Muscicapa Griseola. One pair breed yearly near Ravensdale 

 village, Louth. 



Mountain Finch, Fringilla Montifringilla. Five were killed in the neighbour- 

 hood of Ravensdale Park, February, 1855. 



Rose coloured Pastor (Pastor Roseus). One in full plumage was shot near 

 Carrickmacross, Monaghan, in a garden, August, 1855. 



Bittern, Butor Stellaris. One shot near Carrickmacross, Monaghan, Nov., 1854. 

 One near Clermont Park, Louth, February, 1856. 



Night Heron (Nycticorax Europseus). One shot by a countryman at Inniskeen, 

 Monaghan, January 10, 1855. I saw it the day after ; it was in immature plumage, 

 it rose from a marsh. 



Black tailed Godwit (Limosa Melanura). One shot near Dundalk, Oct., 1855. 



Long tailed Duck (Harelda Glacialis). A male bird in good plumage, caught 

 on a fishing line at Lurgan Green, Louth, in March, 1855. 



Smew (Mergus Albellus). A female shot near Carrickmacross, Dec, 1854. 



1 have seen in every case the birds which the foregoing list mentions as having 

 been obtained at Clermont." 



The Chairman said that the Society was much indebted for the donations that 

 Lord Clermont had presented, and particularly for the interesting records of the 

 birds occurring in his neighbourhood. He hoped that his lordship's example would 

 be followed by others, not only in this, but with reference to the occurrences of rare 

 animals in other branches of natural history. 



Mr. Andrews then begged to present from himself a specimen of the greater 

 shearwater (Pufiinus major), captured on a fisher-nan's liue off the coast of Kerry. 



