DUBLIN NATUEAL niSTOBT SOCIETY. 91 



of a gray wagtail (Motacilla boarula) and a blackbird (Turdns memla), each of 

 which contained two eggs. Leaving one, I took the other, and so on, always 

 leaving one egg in the nest, until in the case of the wagtail she laid eleven eges, 

 her usual number being five or six ; the two last were small, deformed, and p^e ; 

 one of them I now hold in my hand. The blackbird, whose general complement 

 of eggs is four, laid nine ; and you now see the result. In both instances the 

 birds forsook the nest. Now, may we not suppose that if those deformed eggs 

 had ever come to maturity, the young birds would have been sickly, and unlikely 

 to live? Might not the colour of their plumage have been affected? The wanton 

 destruction of birds, especially on the coasts, as one of the causes of their dimi- 

 nution, has been so ably and feelingly alluded to by Mr. Thompson, that it is 

 quite unnecessary for me to enlarge upon it. However, with regard to a plenty 

 or scarcity of food afTecting their numbers in particular localities, the two most 

 reasonable instances within my knowledge have taken place on the coast of 

 Louth. Until within the last three or four years the common scoter (Oidemia 

 nigra) frequented the Bay of Drogheda in immense flocks, and often came into 

 the mouth of the Boyne. They have very much decreased of late years. I attri- 

 bute this to the following facts: — There were large beds of muscles in the 

 mouth of the river, and, in some places in the bay, which, I suppose, attracted 

 the scoters in such numbers. There is now a new trade in muscles to Liverpool 

 from Drogheda, and two or three hundred people, chiefly women, are employed 

 in collecting them. The muscles are becoming scarce, as well as other species 

 of small shell-fish; and, as these constituted the chief food of the scoters, it 

 accounts, I think, for the diminution in number of the birds. This specimen of 

 the velvet scoter (Oidemia fusca) was taken on a hook by a fisherman, in the bay 

 of Drogheda, and brought alive to me. The other case is the golden plover 

 (Charadrius pluvialis), which species frequent, in enormous flocks, the line of 

 strand in Port Bay, stretching from Clogher Head to Dunany Head. Separated 

 from it by the rocky promontory of Clogher Head is the equally long line of 

 strand from thence to the River Boyne. On this latter strand I have never seea 

 one golden plover, while, on the first, they are to be found every day except 

 during the breeding season. The reason, I suppose, is this — there are on Port 

 Bay strand numerous small patches of shingle abounding with small moUusca, 

 and on the other strand these patches of shingle are wanting. The specimens 

 of the ortolan bunting (Emberiza hortulana) and tree sparrow (Passer monta- 

 nus), now before you, I received as Irish examples, and I believe them to be so, 

 but, not having killed them myself, I cannot positively announce them as such ; 

 the first named is the green-headed bunting of Latham and some other authors. 

 According to Yarrell, it has only occurred in five instances in England. The second 

 bird is very locally distributed in England, and neither of them have been be- 

 fore taken in Ireland. As many persons in this country may never have seen 

 these species, which, having occurred once, may do so again, 1 thought they 

 would not only prove interesting to the Society, but insure their being taken no- 

 tice of if again met with. 



JUNE, 1852. 



ON THE PRESENT STATE OF ORNITHOLOGICAL INFORMATION IN IRELAND, AN© 

 ON THE VALUE AND INTEREST OF PRACTICAL INVESTIGATION. BY R. J. 

 MONTGOMERY, A. M PART II. 



On the last evening the Society met, want of time prevented my concluding 

 the few remarks I offered to you. 1 then alluded to some of the rarer birdis 

 found in Ireland, and, in continuation of that portion of mv subject, 1 now beg 

 to call your attention to the example of the scops-eared owl (Strix scops) before 

 y ou Mr.Thompson mentions two instances in which this little owl was captured 

 in this country. This specimen was given me as having been killed in the 

 county of Clare ; and, judging from a very clear description of a small owl shot 



