PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 91 



SHRUBS INJURED. Minorca Box, Portugal Laurel, Common Laurel, Butcher's 

 Broom, Cotoneaster, Evergreen Oak, Auracaria, China Rose (blush), Gum cistus, 

 Ivy, and Privet. 



SHRUBS NOT INJURED. Rhododendrons, Mahonia, Gold Plant, Arbor-vita, 

 Hollies, and Kibes. 



DUBLIN NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, 



MA.RCH 23, 1855. 

 Dr. CROKER, M.R.I.A., in the Chair. 



The minutes and preliminary business being confirmed and disposed of, 

 Mr. Williams read the following communication from Dr. George Gray 

 Creighton to Dr. J. R. Harvey, of Cork, relative to the capture of the Iceland gull 

 (Larus Islandicus), which had been presented to the Society at the last 

 meeting : 



" Kenmare, February 23, 1855. 



41 SIR In reply to yours of the 19th, received yesterday, the circumstances con- 

 nected with the capture of the Iceland gull are as follows : Walking one day 

 last December near the suspension-bridge, I observed, at a distance of about 

 twenty yards from the edge of the surf, a large gull settled on the water none of 

 his own kind or others being near. I am not in the habit of shooting gulls or 

 other birds without an object, but the uniform whiteness this bird presented in the 

 distance induced me to go towards it, and shoot it as it languidly rose at my 

 approach. My dog fetched him out apparently little injured in fact, he lived a 

 couple of days after in the garden. I have been living at and on the sea the most 

 part of thirty years, and been in the constant habit of shooting sea birds for collec- 

 tions, particularly at such places as Lambay, Rathlin Island, Fair Head, &c., and, 

 accordingly, have rumpled the feathers of many an unfortunate burgomaster, 

 saddleback, shearwater, rosy Tern, &c., and a species of entirely sooty-black gull 

 on the shores of South America and the Gulf of Darien, ' but never ought like this.' 

 I am, therefore, very glad it has fallen into such good quarters, where his visit 

 (though, no doubt, unfortunate) can be so well appreciated and honourably com- 

 municated. 



44 GEO. GRAY CREIGHTON, M.D. 

 "J. R. Harvey, Esq., M.D." 



The donations announced were from Mr. Williams, two fine specimens of the 

 female Hawfinch (Coccothraustes vulgaris), shot in the Phoenix Park ; and from 

 Mr. Dombrain, one male and two females of the mountainfinch (Fringilla monti- 

 fringilla), obtained at the Meeting of the Waters. 



Mr. Andrews, Honorary Secretary, was then called on for his paper, 



NOTES ON THE SOUTH-WEST COAST, AND ON THE OCCURRENCE OF THE 

 GREATER SHEARWATER (PUFFINUS MAJOR). 



He said At a meeting in the month of February last year I had the pleasure, 

 through the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Blackburne, of Valentia, of submitting to 

 the Society a specimen of the dusky petrel (Puffinus obscurus), which was 

 captured off the Island of Valentia, being the only known occurrence of this rare 

 petrel on the shores of the British Isles ; at the same time were exhibited the 

 female of the Manx Shearwater, with the egg, which were taken from the nest in 

 the cliffs of the same island. I propose making some further remarks on the 

 Petrels this evening, and upon the occurrence of the Greater Shearwater (Puffinus 

 major) on the south-west coast of this country ; but, before doing so, I will submit 

 a brief outline of the features of the south-west coast, descriptive of the localities 

 where the marine birds that visit annually that coast resort to in the breeding 



