DUBLIN NATUBAL HI8T0BT SOCIETT. 79 



truU on the south-west coast seemed principally to breed on the smaller Skellig 

 Island, and on the Islands of Innismaculuun and Inntsnabroe, two of the Ulasket 

 Islands. In concludine^, Mr. Andrews could not but observe on the extreme in- 

 terest of the birds exhibited this evening — two of the rarest additions to British 

 ornithology that had been made for years. The Dusky petrel excited great in- 

 terest when exhibited by Mr. Yarrell at the Linnean Society in June last; and 

 this Society was much indebted to the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Blackburn, of 

 Valentia, in affording them the opportunity of seeing the specimen, and that of 

 the Manx shearwater. 



Mr. Williams said that ho had long and great experience in watching the 

 habits of water fowl, and he did not consider that the shoveller had any pecu- 

 liarity in its feeding ; he observed it, when swimming, to skim the surface of the 

 water with its bill, but to eat potatoes and meal in common with others of the 

 duck tribe. 



The Chairman (Dr. Gordon) remarked that the habits of birds in confine- 

 ment could not be considered generally as the true mode of seeking and using 

 food, as their wild state influenced them. They more commonly adapted their 

 habits to the use of the artificial food supplied to them. 



Mr. Andrews said that in the instance of a merganser, whose strong serra- 

 tion of the mandibles in the wild state enabled it to retain the fish it had cap- 

 tured, the serrated character of the bill became blunt, and, to some degree, od- 

 literated, by its change of food in confinement. 



Dr. Kinahan observed that the paper possessed particular interest in the re- 

 marks relating to the breeding of the Manx shearwater and Bulwer's petrel in 

 this country. These stragglers had no right to be considered as natives, though 

 their occurrence should be always noted. He had no doubt that observation 

 would add considerably to the list of those burds which breed in this coun- 

 try occasionall v. He might remark that he believed the siskin ( Carduelis spinua) 

 was amongst the number, having met the species in Rathgar and Donnybrook, 

 in the county of Dublin, in Tipperary, and in Powerscourt, county of Wicklow, 

 so late as the 22nd of July. He had also little doubt that the redwing (Meruia 

 iliaca) also sometimes bred here; and it was tmdoubted that the blackcap 

 {Curruca atricapUla) did so too. 



MAY 3, 1850. 



ON THK OCCUBBENCB OF STERNA FI88IPBS (S. NIGRA), IN THE COUNTY OF 

 WATERFORD. BT CHARLES FARRAN, H.D. 



I shall give a short account of the capture of the Black Tern, in the plumage 

 of the young of the year, near Dungarvan. 



On my return home on the 5th November, 1849, in the afternoon, the day 

 being hazy and dark, I saw very indistinctly a bird flying round a pool of brack- 

 ish water, separated from the sea by a high beach, about thirty yards wide. Its 

 flight was so very different from any bird I had seen, that my curiosity was ex- 

 cited ; and, immediately procuring mv gun, went down under the protection of 

 a wall, which completely prevented the bird from seeing me; and having 

 reached the pond, 1 had an opportunity of observing its flight, which was ex- 

 tremely graceful — constantly flying round the pond, it every now and then de- 

 scended to the water, not by the plunge which characterizes the tern, but, gently 

 alighting on the surface of the water, it bent forward and took up its prey. No- 

 thing could be more elegant than its evolutions; and I candidly confess that, 

 touched by its extreme beauty, I had almost made up my mind to let it escape, 

 but science forbade such a resolve. 



Having the specimen before the Society, it is unnecessary to describe it 

 more particularly than to say, that it measured two feet from tip to tip of the 

 wings, and ten inches in length ; its stomach was filled with water beetles and 



