78 DUBLIN NATUBAL H18T0BY SOCIETY. 



the fifteenth recorded in Ireland ; and he would mention a singular circumstance 

 relative to this bird. On the Continent, in Germany and Holland, from the an- 

 tipathy of this bird to the hawk tribe, the falconers used it for the purpose of 

 capturing those birds of prey. In Holland the method was, when the falcons or 

 hawks passed over the great heaths, the falconers placed a shrike, secured between 

 three pieces of turf. On the appearance of a hawk, even at a great distance, the 

 shrike commenced a violent screaming, which attracted the hawk to the spot. 

 The falconer, in the meantime, had a live pigeon as a decoy ; the hawk, in 

 pouncing, was secured, the pigeon being drawn within a net set for the purpose. 



Mr. Andrews said that with reference to the communication from Mrs. Black- 

 burn, she further mentions that a turnstone (Strepsilas interpres), with four 

 young ones, unable to Hy, were taken last June on the shore of Valentia, near 

 the old revenue station. An attempt was made to rear the young, but it failed. 



FEBRUARY 10, 1854. 



Mr. Andrews said that he had a few remarks to make relative to the paper 

 brought forward on a former evening, on the capture of the membranaceous 

 duck (^Malacorynchus memhranaceus), in Castlemaine Bay, county of Kerry. He 

 had since traced every circumstance of its capture, and they were fully confir- 

 matory of its capture there. Apparently, the membranaceous duck would pos- 

 sess great power of flight, although its wings were extremely short. Through 

 the kindness of Dr. Farran, he had the opportunity of exhibiting and comparing 

 fine specimens of the gadwall and of the shovel-duck. These beautiful birds, 

 like the membranaceous duck, were remarkable for having the laminae of the 

 mandibles largely developed ; they were strongly so in the gadwall, a provision 

 suited to their peculiar habits of feeding. The membranaceous duck, whose bill 

 was extremely soft in its substance, seemed only suited to feed upon the softer 

 mollusca and gelatinous marine animals ; the finely pectinated laminae retain the 

 minute creatures upon which the bird feeds, allowing only the watery portion to 

 escape. In the paper before alluded to, he had mentioned the capture, off the 

 island of Valentia, of the Dusky petrel (Pulfinus obscurus), and he was now, 

 through the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Blackburn, of Valentia, enabled to exhi- 

 bit the specimen of this bird, the Puffinus assimilis of Gould, a native of Norfolk 

 Island and the eastern shores of Australia. This is the first record of its capture 

 in Europe, it never having been known north of the Mediterranean. It is, how- 

 ever, plentiful at the Cape of Good Hope, and probably on the north-west coast 

 of Africa, and it is the Dusky petrel (Puffinus obscurus). The Puffinus obscurus 

 is extremely like the Manx petrel (Puffinus Anglorum), but is readily distinguish- 

 able by its diminutive proportions. The Dusky petrel is a southern species, 

 while the Manx petrel is a northern. Mr. Andrews had also the opportunity of 

 exhibiting a specimen of the Manx shearwater, with the Qgg, taken in one of the 

 cliffs on the Island of Valentia. These birds were always considered to breed 

 on the Skellig Islands, but Mr. Andrews had never known the eggs to be ob- 

 tained there. An eg^ had been sent to him, taken from the smaller Skellig Is- 

 land, and marked as belonging to a petrel, and stated to be that of the Manx 

 shearwater ; but, on comparing it with the egg sent by Mr. Blackburn, it was of 

 much smaller size, and not so oval as that of the egg of the Manx shearwater. 

 On examination of the eggs in the British Museum, Mr. Andrews found one to 

 correspond with it, marked as the egg of Bulwer's petrel (Thalassidroma Bul- 

 werii). It was gratifying to have so well authenticated, by Mr. Blackburn, the 

 egg of the Manx shearwater, as it was but little known to the naturalists of this 

 country. The eggs of the petrels are large in proportion to the size of the 

 birds; and it would be extremely interesting yet to prove that the egg of the 

 petrel which had been sent to him was that of T. Bulwerii. Having noticed 

 such rare birds on the west coast, discovered within the last year, we may na- 

 turally expect to meet the other species of the petrels on that coast. The pe- 



